Home
by Shelecki
Summary: This is my first Criminal Minds fanfic! Hotch and Emily are married. They had two year old daughter, who was abducted. Hotch and Emily get more than they bargained for when their daughter is located three years later. [TRIGGER WARNING: child abuse, sexual abuse] Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds.
1. Chapter 1

It was three o'clock in the morning when Hotch was awakened by the shrill ringing of his phone. Groaning, he rolled over and picked up his cellphone. "This is Agent Hotchner," he said when he answered the phone. He hoped the grogginess he felt wasn't apparent in his voice.

Once the caller told him that the call was about a missing child, Hotch perked up. He listened intently to what the caller was telling him.

There was a new case. The Los Angeles Police Department was requesting the BAU's help on a child abduction case. A raid on a digital child pornography ring in Los Angeles found images of three children who had been abducted from different parts of Virginia. The children were connected to the same man, and police were having trouble tracking the man's IP address because it kept leading them down bogus routes. They also found an encrypted folder that was believed to contain images of a fourth victim. Since the victims had been taken across state lines, it was a federal case.

"Thank you. I will gather my team, and we will start working on this case right away," Hotch said before hanging up. He turned towards his sleeping wife, Emily. "Hey, Em. Wake up," he said, gently nudging Emily's sleeping form.

"Do we have a case?" Emily said, sleepily rolling over to face her husband.

"Yes. Three children who went missing a few years ago may have been located," Hotch told his wife. Hearing this, Emily sprang out of bed. She flicked the light switch, and light flooded the bedroom. She threw on a maroon cashmere sweater and a pair of dark wash blue jeans. She rolled her eyes when she saw her husband buttoning up a dress shirt. Hotch always wore a suit to work, no matter what the time was. This was no exception.

While Hotch was getting dressed, Emily refilled her cat's automatic feeder and waterer.

Once Hotch had his shirt buttoned, he grabbed his suit jacket, and he and Emily left their house.

During their brief fifteen minute car ride to the BAU Headquarters, neither Hotch nor Emily said much to one another. Hotch was focused on driving as fast as he could without breaking any laws, and Emily was using his phone to alert the rest of the BAU members about their newest case.

* * *

When they arrived at the BAU Headquarters, they parked their car. Hotch slipped on his suit jacket before getting out of the car. He and Emily entered the building and rushed up to their floor. They were eager to start working on the case.

Hotch and Emily were the first to arrive. Reid and Garcia arrived next. Then, Rossi arrived, and finally, JJ and Morgan were the last to arrive.

Once everyone had arrived, the team headed to the conference room, where they briefed cases.

"Thank you all for arriving promptly. I've forwarded an electronic case file to each of your tablets," Hotch told everyone as they took their seats around the table. He looked at JJ and nodded, "Whenever you're ready."

JJ stood up with her iPad and walked to the front of the room. She clicked a button on her remote, and the screen behind her turned on.

"Last night, the Los Angeles Police Department raided a digital child porn ring. Three children were identified as missing kids from different parts of Virginia. Authorities believe that these three children were abducted by the same person," JJ told the team. She clicked a button on her remote, and a photo of the first victim appeared on the screen. He was a gangly boy who looked like he was about five years old. He had curly black hair and clear blue eyes. "The first victim was identified as five-year-old Charlie Atwood. He was abducted from Dulles, Virginia five years ago. His parents were shot execution-style in the middle of the night, then he was taken. His abductor left a partial fingerprint, but the police weren't able to match it to anyone," JJ explained. She clicked a button, and another picture came onto the screen. The picture looked like it was a close-up screenshot taken from a video. It showed a thin boy with matted curls and stoic blue eyes. "This is an screenshot taken from one of the videos that they found during the raid. The LAPD ran it through facial recognition software, and came up with two possible matches," JJ said, clicking a button. Three more photos popped up. The photos looked like a school pictures of two very similar-looking boys. "The first photo is a school picture of eight-year-old Caleb Hanson. He was reported missing a year ago," JJ told the team, gesturing to the photo on the left. It showed a smiling young boy with with dark wavy hair. "This next photo is an age progression that shows what Charlie might look like now," JJ said. She gestured to the photo on the right. It showed a very serious young boy with curly black hair.

"If the kid from the video really is Charlie, then that age-progression is almost spot-on," Morgan commented.

"How did they identify him? Caleb looks closer in age, but the Charlie's facial features in the age-progression look more like those of the child from the video," Rossi said.

"They ruled Caleb out after finding pictures and videos that were taken years before he went missing," JJ explained. Satisfied with JJ's answer, Rossi nodded. JJ clicked a button, and the images on the screen were replaced with a photo of a little girl. The girl in the photo was missing her two front teeth, and she had a small scattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. She had each blonde hair that was the color of golden wheat. Her playful green eyes sparkled as she looked into the camera. "The next victim was identified as five-year-old Addison Hough. She was abducted from Richmond, Virginia four years ago. She was abducted during the same time of year that Charlie was. Same MO as Charlie's abduction. Her parents were shot execution-style in the middle of the night, and she was taken. Her abductor must've learned from his mistakes with Charlie and wore gloves this time. No fingerprints were found at the scene," JJ said. She clicked a button, and two more photos appeared on the screen. The first was a screenshot from a video. It showed a skinny blonde girl whose blonde hair hung limply around her bony face. The second looked like another school picture. "This first photo was taken from a different video that the police found. The other one is an age progression of what Addison would look like at nine years old," JJ explained.

"How did they identify her as Addison?" Emily asked.

"The police identified her with photos that were taken three days after she was abducted," JJ answered. Emily nodded and looked down at the case file on her iPad. JJ clicked a button, and the photos of Addison were replaced with a photo of a young boy wearing a baseball uniform. The boy had friendly brown eyes and toothy grin on his face. His light chestnut brown hair swooped across his forehead and settled just below his eyebrows. "Our next victim was five-year-old Luke Brown. He was abducted from Roanoke, Virginia around the same time that Charlie and Addison were three years later. Now here's where things changed. Luke's father, James Brown, woke up before his son's abductor was able to shoot him. He and the abductor fought, but the abductor managed to knock him out. The abductor shot him to finish the job. James survived but was unconscious. Thinking that he had killed James, the abductor took Luke and left. James was able to give the police a brief description of the man who took his son, but he lost consciousness before being able to say much. He died en route to the hospital," JJ said. She clicked a button, and another screenshot and age-progression photo showed up on the screen. "This is from one of the videos," she said, pointing at the the screenshot. There was a frightened young boy in the screenshot. She then pointed to the age-progression photo. "This is an age-progression of what Luke might look like now," she said. "Police identified him by running his picture through facial recognition software. Four possible IDs came back, and police cross-checked the dates the boys were reported missing with the dates that the earliest photos of Luke were taken," she added, knowing that someone would ask about how Luke was identified.

"The only things that these kids have in common is the they age they were when they were abducted and the state that they were abducted from. Other than those two things, these kids seem to be completely different. Did the kids or their families have any connection to each other?" Reid asked.

"The police found no connections between the kids or their parents," JJ replied.

"What was James Brown able to tell the police before he died?" Emily asked.

"He said that the guy was a white male with shaggy brown hair and a goatee, and he looked like he was in his mid-thirties. He also said that the man may have had a tattoo of a woman's name on his left bicep," JJ answered.

The team continued to discuss the case and review the file until they felt they had a pretty good grasp on it.

"Garcia, I'd like you to accompany us to Los Angeles because the police chief mentioned that his team was having trouble tracking down the UnSub's IP address, and they couldn't open an encrypted folder that might contain images of a fourth victim," Hotch said.

"You got it, Boss Man!" Garcia chirped.

"Whoever this guy is, he's had those kids long enough. Wheels up in thirty," Hotch told everyone. He dismissed the team, and the BAU members left to get their go-bags.


	2. Chapter 2

During the four hour plane ride to Los Angeles, the team tried to start a profile based on what little information they knew about the UnSub, while Garcia got to work on opening the encrypted folder and tracking the UnSub's IP address.

Shortly before landing, Hotch assigned different tasks to the members of his team. He asked Morgan and Rossi to talk to the people that the LAPD had managed to track down and apprehend following the raid. He asked JJ and Reid to comb through the images and videos for any clues that could tell them useful information about the UnSub and where he was keeping the children. He asked Garcia to meet with the LAPD's Technical Analyst, and he and Emily were going to speak with the police chief.

* * *

Once they arrived in Los Angeles, everyone headed to the LAPD precinct to work on their assigned tasks.

Garcia had been working on opening the encrypted folder for three hours when she finally made a breakthrough. She realized that a tiny part of the folder's coding had been reversed. Her fingers flew across her keyboard as she rapidly retyped the reversed code in its correct sequence. Once she had fixed the coding, she was given full access to the contents of the folder.

"EUREKA! I'VE DONE IT!" Garcia shouted, jumping out of her seat as thousands of image thumbnails flooded her screen. After hours of seeing the words "ACCESS DENIED" flashing on her screen in angry red letters, it was incredibly satisfying to finally gain access to the folder.

Garcia used her headset to call Hotch, who picked up almost immediately.

"I've finally done it!" she told Hotch proudly.

"Great job, Garcia! Now, I need you to cross-check the photos in the folder with photos of missing children, so we can ID more victims," Hotch replied.

"I am already on it!" Garcia said, clicking on the first thumbnail.

"Thanks, Garcia! Call if you find anything," Hotch said.

"No problem-o! Will do!" Garcia responded. When Hotch hung up, she looked at the first image. Her face fell when she saw the child in it. She shook her head, not believing her eyes. She looked at the next image. The same child was in it. Her mouth dropped open, and her eyes grew wide. She looked through the thumbnails in the folder, and they all seemed to have pictures of the same child.

"Oh my garbanzo beans..." Garcia mumbled to herself. With a shaking hand, she called Hotch back.

"You already found something? You work fast, Garcia!" Hotch said, shocked that Garcia was able to get back to him so quickly.

"Sir, you need to see this. Bring Emily," Garcia said, trying to remain composed.

"Is everything okay?" Hotch asked. His joy about Garcia getting back to him so soon was quickly turning into concern.

"I-I-I don't know if it's true. Maybe I'm just seeing things," Garcia stuttered. Her eyes began to tear up. She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand and sniffled.

"Okay, hang tight. We're coming," Hotch told the Technical Analyst. He hung up and turned to Emily, who he had been working next to. He told her that Garcia needed them. Emily quickly dropped what she was doing, and she and Hotch made a beeline for the office that Garcia had been given. On their way, they found JJ and Reid, who had been working in a different room close by. Hotch told him about Garcia's call. Since it seemed like Garcia had found some pretty significant information, JJ and Reid joined Hotch and Emily on their way to Garcia's office.

When Garcia heard the door open, she whipped around. She jumped up when she saw Hotch, Emily, JJ, and Reid in the doorway. She ran to them.

"I ran the photos through the missing children database four times because I thought that maybe there was a mistake. But the I kept getting the same result over and over again. Oh my gravy boat! It's true! I think it's true!" Garcia rapidly told everyone.

"Garcia, breathe! What are you talking about?" Emily said, putting her hands on Garcia's shoulders.

"Look!" Garcia said, leading the agents back to her computer screen. She pointed to it. The agents gathered around the screen and looked at what Garcia was pointing to. Unfortunately for Reid, he was the slowest to move and got stuck behind Hotch, Emily, JJ, and Garcia as they formed a wall around the screen.

On the screen was one of the pictures from the encrypted folder that Garcia had opened. Next to it, was a match from the missing children database.

Hotch, Emily, and JJ's eyes widened when they saw the child on the screen.

The child in the photo from the folder looked like an emaciated toddler. She was dressed in a tiny pink bikini. She had dark brown, almost black hair. Her porcelain skin was dirty and bruised. Her striking hazel-green eyes were filled with pure terror. She had fresh tears running over previously dried tear tracks on her hollow cheeks.

"Oh my god..." Emily whispered, clasping a hand over her gaping mouth as she stared at the screen.

"What?" Reid asked, trying to squeeze between Emily and JJ to see the screen.

"I don't believe it," Hotch said under his breath.

"What's on the screen?" Reid questioned, trying to peer over Hotch's head.

"She's alive," Emily whispered, her voice breaking. Tears of joy began filling her eyes.

"Who's alive!?" Reid exclaimed, slightly frustrated that he didn't know what was going on.

"Our daughter," Hotch told the younger agent, finally noticing him and moving so he could see the screen.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey, Baby Girl! I have a name that I need you to look up for me!" Morgan announced as he and Rossi sauntered into Garcia's temporary office. He noticed Hotch, Emily, JJ, Reid, and Garcia crowded around a computer screen and stopped. "What's going on? Are we late to the party?" he joked.

Hotch, Emily, JJ, Reid, and Garcia turned around to face Morgan and Rossi.

"Garcia finally opened the encrypted folder, and it contained images of Hotch and Emily's daughter, who went missing three years ago," Reid informed Morgan and Rossi.

Both Morgan and Rossi (as well as everyone else in the room) remembered the day Hotch and Emily's daughter went missing very clearly. Hotch and Emily had come home after being away while working on a case in Dallas, Texas for two days. They walked through the front door, expecting to see their daughter and her nanny, but they didn't see either of the two. They called the nanny, and they soon realized that she had left her phone at their house when they heard it ringing. As they were calling the police to report their daughter and he nanny missing, the nanny returned. She was hysterical. She told them that she had taken their two-year-old daughter to the neighborhood park after dinner. She said that she was sitting on a bench, watching their daughter go down the slide, when a man grabbed her after she had reached the bottom of the slide. She told them about how she tried to chase the man down, but he shoved their daughter into his car and drove off. Hotch and Emily relayed this information back to the police, and the nanny gave them a witness statement. An AMBER Alert was sent out for their daughter, and police promised to contact them if they had any leads. No leads ever surfaced, and their daughter was never seen again. Knowing the chances of finding a missing child alive after a significant amount of time has passed, a heartbroken Hotch and Emily came to terms with the fact that their daughter was most likely dead. They had no reason to believe otherwise until Garcia showed them what she found.

"Baby Girl, you found their daughter?" Morgan asked, looking at Garcia. Garcia, who was still in shock just nodded.

"We got one of the guys to talk. We might have the name of the man she's with," Rossi told the group.

"Give me the name. I'll look it up right now!" Garcia said to Rossi.

Rossi handed Garcia a slip of paper with a man's name written on it. She sat down in her chair, and within minutes, she minimized the missing children database, opened a different database, searched the man's name, and had results appearing on her screen. The agents were crowded around her, watching in awe.

"Okay, there are two people named Michael Bregoli in the state of California. I think we can rule out this first guy because he died in 1978 due to prostate cancer," Garcia told the team. She clicked on the second Michael Bregoli. His mugshot appeared, along with information about him. In the mugshot, he had a neatly trimmed goatee and shaggy brown hair.

"He looks like the guy in most of the photos and videos that Reid and I looked through," JJ said.

"And he fits the description that James Brown gave the police before he died," Reid added.

"Look at his criminal record. Several arrests for misdemeanor sex crimes...and he went to jail and was registered as a level two sex offender ten years ago for the possession and distribution of child pornography," Morgan said, pointing to where Michael Bregoli's criminal record was listed on the screen.

"Garcia, what's his last known address?" Hotch asked.

Garcia scrolled through the information on her screen until she found an address. "3232 Greenspring Road! It was updated two years," she told Hotch.

"Alright! Everyone head to that address. I'll notify the LAPD on the way," Hotch told the group. The agents followed their Unit Chief's order and left the room to go the Michael Bregoli's house. "Garcia, I can't thank you enough," Hotch said. Garcia smiled at him. "Just go save those kids and get your little girl back," she replied. Hotch gave her a small smile, then rushed out of the room.

* * *

The agents sped to the house. It wasn't too far away, and they arrived in about twenty minutes. The agents parked in front of the house and hopped out of their SUVs. As the they were leaving their SUVs, the LAPD arrived to provide backup. Outfitted in their protective Kevlar vests, the agents approached the house.

The house was located in a lower-middle class suburban neighborhood. There was a grey minivan parked in the driveway. It was on the smaller side, but it looked spacious enough for at least two people. All of the windows' curtains were drawn. Some of the shingles on the roof were missing, and the paint on siding of the house was chipping a little bit. Other than that, it seemed to be in decent shape.

The agents split up, so they could cover more ground in case their UnSub was hiding or in case he tried to run. Hotch and Emily walked up to the front door, while JJ and Reid went around to the back of the house. Morgan and Rossi approached from opposite sides.

"Michael Bregoli!" Emily called out, knocking on the door. There was no response. She knocked again, this time with more force. "Michael Bregoli!" she called out again. There still wasn't a response. She knocked a third time with even more force. "Mr. Bregoli, we're giving you one more chance to open the door," she stated loudly.

"There appears to be no sign of him. We're going in. Proceed with caution when entering the house," Hotch told the agents through the walkie-talkie that was clipped onto his vest. He nodded to Emily, and she kicked the door open.

"Michael Bregoli! FBI!" Emily announced. She and Hotch stood in the small foyer with their guns drawn. They carefully investigated their surroundings, checking for any signs of their UnSub. The looked around the room, but didn't find anything.

"The living room and foyer are clear," Emily reported into her the walkie-talkie on her vest.

As she and Hotch walked deeper into the house, Morgan, Rossi, JJ, and Reid informed everyone that the remaining rooms on the first floor were clear.

"I don't think that he's here," Morgan said into his walkie-talkie.

"Start searching for the children, but be on the lookout in case he returns," Hotch instructed the team. He and Emily holstered their guns and began looking.

"Hey, Aaron, don't you think this is a weird spot to have a fireplace?" Emily asked, pointing to an awkwardly placed fireplace that was located in the corner of the room they were in. She bent down to inspect it.

"It can't be a functioning fireplace. The house has no chimney," Hotch said, walking over to join his wife. He bent down next to her to investigate. He watched as Emily pried a loose stone out of place. She removed the stone and behind it, there was a lever. She looked at him then back at the lever.

Slowly, Emily turned the lever to the right, and the fireplace opened like an emergency exit door on an airplane. It revealed a small staircase that led to a room in the basement.

"If the kids are here, this is definitely where he's been keeping them," Hotch stated. Emily nodded in agreement as she peeked down the staircase. She turned on her flashlight. "Hello?" she called down into the room. She was met with silence. She crouched down a little bit to fit through the door way, and she began to descend the flight of stairs with Hotch following close behind her.

As the couple walked down the stairs into the dark room, they heard several small gasps and a startled scream that was quickly cut off by someone slapping their hand over the screamer's mouth. There was complete silence for about a minute, then they started hearing whispers and movement.

"Shh! I think he's coming!" they heard a small voice whisper. The sound of soft shushing followed the whisper.

"No, it can't be him. The person coming down the stairs has lighter steps," another voice whispered.

"It sounds like there are two people coming down the stairs," a different voice whispered.

"If it's not him, then who is it?" the first voice whispered.

"I don't know, but he's gonna be mad if he finds out someone came down here without his permission. We should hide and maybe they'll go away!" a fourth voice suggested in a hushed whisper. Hotch and Emily recognized this voice. They heard shuffling and the sound of people moving. They thought the heard a door open and close.

When Hotch and Emily reached the bottom of the stairs, Emily shined her flashlight around, looking for a light source. She found a lightbulb with a string hanging down. She pulled the string, turning the lightbulb on. A warm glow diffused through the cramped room. Emily sharply inhaled as she took in the condition of the room. Hotch sighed deeply.

Hotch and Emily looked around the squalid room, trying to locate the source of the whispers.

The room was square-shaped. It was untidy and disorganized. There were piles of dirty clothing and bed sheets lying around. There were piles of books scattered around the room. Various broken toys were haphazardly left around the room. The walls were covered in writing and drawings. Hotch saw sloppy tally marks drawn a few feet above the floor. Emily noticed a sequence that appeared to be the digits of pi. There was a twin-sized bed along the wall. It was clear that the sheets on the bed hadn't been changed in months. At the foot of the bed, there was a small door with a sign that said "Dress-Up Closet" on it. There was a wooden chest that was labeled "Toy Box" in one of the corners of the room. Hotch and Emily knew that they wouldn't find fun costumes in the "Dress-Up Closet", and they were certain that the "Toy Box" didn't contain any toys for children.

"Hello? This is the FBI," Emily said, hoping to draw the children out of their hiding spot.

"It's the FBI! They're the good guys!" one familiar voice whispered.

Emily and Hotch felt their hearts swell with joy. Even after all those years, their daughter still remembered that they were the good guys.

"It's a trap! They're probably lying," another voice whispered in response.

"We're only here to help," Hotch said after hearing the skeptical response. He heard shuffling, and he and Emily turned toward the direction that it was coming from.

"Quit moving! They'll hear us!" a voice ordered. There was more shuffling. Hotch and Emily started walking towards the source of the sound. "Ow! Your elbow is so pointy!" a different voice cried out. There was shushing and more shuffling. Something was knocked onto the ground and landed with a thud. "Shut up! Do you want them to find us!?" a different voice exclaimed. There was a little bit more shuffling, then it was quiet. The only sound that could be heard was breathing.

Hotch and Emily followed the sound of the breathing, and it led them to the "Dress-Up Closet." Hotch slowly opened the door, and there stood three malnourished and terrified children. Due to years of of abuse and neglect, the children didn't look as old as their age-progressions looked, but Hotch and Emily knew that they had found Charlie, Addison, and Luke.


	4. Chapter 4

Addison and Luke were huddled together, while Charlie stood with a defensive stance. Addison and Luke held onto each other's hands. Charlie didn't hold anyone's hand, but he did have one hand behind his back. He eyed the two agents suspiciously.

While they were glad to have found the three children, Hotch and Emily were heartbroken that their daughter wasn't there. They thought they had heard her voice, but apparently they were wrong.

"We know you're scared, but we promise that we're here to help," Hotch told the children in a gentle voice. They look at him skeptically and backed away.

"We know what that man did to you, and we're going to make sure that he can never lay a hand on you again," Emily said softly.

"See! I told you they were good!" a small but familiar voice called out.

Charlie glanced behind him and made a shushing noise.

Hotch and Emily peeked over Charlie's head and spotted a tiny girl standing behind him. The girl was clutching a stuffed bunny in one hand. Hotch and Emily recognized it immediately. It was the bunny that Hotch bought for their daughter on the day she was born. She loved it. She never let it go. She had even been holding it when she was taken.

The filthy stuffed bunny was in a total state of disrepair. There were holes with stuffing poking out and holes that had been clumsily stitched closed. It was falling apart, but Hotch and Emily recognized a familiar blue paint stain on its left ear and the yellow ribbon that Emily had tied around its neck.

They couldn't believe that their daughter was alive and standing in front of them. She looked slightly different. She was thinner and, she looked a year older than she was when she was abducted, but it was definitely her. Emily couldn't contain the small gasp that escaped her lips when she saw her. She and Hotch had to hold back tears when they saw their child, who was gripping Charlie's hand as he protectively shielded her with his rail-thin body.

"My name is Emily, and this is Agent Hotchner," Emily told the children, gesturing to herself then to Hotch. She bent down so she was eye-level with the kids.

The tiny girl looked up at her parents and there seemed to be a brief moment of recognition. It lasted only a few short seconds, before she quickly cowered behind Charlie and gripped his hand tighter. Charlie shifted his body, so she was blocked from Hotch and Emily's view.

"He calls you 'Byrd', doesn't he?" Emily asked. Charlie responded with a stiff nod. Emily knew what the UnSub in his disgusting videos. "And he calls those two 'Lark' and 'Wren'?" Emily continued, gesturing to Addison and Luke, who were still clinging onto each other for dear life. Charlie responded with another stiff nod. "And he calls her 'Phoenix'?" Emily asked, peeking behind Charlie again. Charlie moved again and blocked the tiny girl from her mother's view. He gave Emily a stiff nod.

"But those aren't your real names, are they?" Hotch asked softly, bending down to be eye-level with the kids.

The kids shook their heads.

"Your name is Charlie, right? And those are your friends, Addison and Luke? And that little girl whose hand you're holding...her name is Fallon?" Emily asked, looking at the curly-haired boy. Of course, she knew her own daughter's name, but Charlie didn't know that she was Fallon's mother.

Charlie nodded stiffly, still looking at Hotch and Emily with wary eyes.

"You all look very hungry. If you come with me and Agent Hotchner, we can get you whatever you want to eat," Emily said, trying to coax the kids out of the closet. She knew that if they removed the kids by force, all hope of gaining their trust would be lost. She gave them a friendly smile to show that she wasn't a threat.

Addison, Luke, and Fallon looked at Charlie, unsure of what to do.

Emily could see the tension slowly being released from Charlie's body as he realized that he had the upper hand as the group's leader and protector. The kids would listen to him before they'd listen to an FBI agent. He had been leading and protecting them since Addison was brought to the house four years ago. The kids trusted him.

Charlie made some sort of subtle hand signal, and the kids immediately turned their backs to the two agents and formed a huddle. Hotch and Emily realized that the children had developed their own way to communicate with each other.

"They seem nice!" Fallon said in the huddle. It broken Hotch and Emily's hearts to hear their daughter talking about them like they were strangers.

"I think they're legit," Luke said.

"Ask to see their badges," Addison said to Charlie. Charlie looked at her, considering the suggestion for a moment, then he broke the huddle and returned his gaze to the two agents in front of him.

"Can I please see your badges?" Charlie finally asked after staring down Hotch and Emily. He knew what the consequences were if he asked for something without saying "please." All of the kids knew the consequences, and Charlie wasn't taking any chances with the two agents.

Hotch and Emily took out their badges and showed them to the boy. "Thank you," Charlie said. He and the kids knew what punishments would be in store if they didn't say "thank you", so once again, he wasn't taking any chances.

Little Fallon peeked out from behind Charlie and read her parents' FBI credentials. She stared at their pictures for a long time then looked at them. Another brief moment of recognition flashed in her eyes but ultimately, she chose to put her trust in Charlie instead of the two agents in front of her. She moved closer to him and hid behind his legs. Charlie put his arm around her and patted her on the back.

Addison and Luke peered over Charlie's shoulders as he studied the two agents' badges very carefully. He looked like he was trying to determine their authenticity. He felt his stomach rumble. He, Addison, Luke, and Fallon hadn't eaten in two days. Their captor sometimes disappeared for days at time. Whenever he did that, he would replenish their stash of granola bars and water. Sometimes he left them with more than enough food and water. Sometimes he left them with so little food and water it wouldn't last them nearly as long as he would be gone. The kids never knew how long they'd be left alone, and they had to learn how to ration food accordingly. The dwindling supply of granola bars and water that had been left for them almost a week ago was running dangerously low. The kids would sometimes go days at a time without eating in order to conserve what little food and water that had been left for them.

"I think they're telling the truth," he told the three younger kids. He knew that they couldn't go much longer without food, and with only two granola bars left and no signs that their captor would be returning anytime soon, he worried that they would die of starvation or dehydration if they didn't take Emily up on her offer. He hoped that he had made the right choice. He looked at Hotch and Emily. "Alright. We'll go with you," he told them.

Hotch and Emily smiled at the kids. They offered their hands to the kids, but Charlie brushed them off, and the other three followed suit. Charlie held little Fallon's hand as he led the kids out of the closet. Hotch and Emily followed behind them.

"We have the kids, they're coming up now," Hotch whispered into his walkie-talkie.

Once the kids reached the top of the stairs, Hotch and Emily guided them towards the front door. The kids had exited the house and were nearing the end of the driveway, when they saw something that made them stop dead in their tracks.

It was their captor, Michael Bregoli.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE!?" Bregoli screeched, trying to fight his way past several LAPD officers to get to the house.

"It's him!" Addison cried out, letting go of Luke's hand to point at Bregoli.

"He's gonna kill us!" Luke exclaimed fearfully. He looked at Charlie.

"Go back before he sees us!" Charlie ordered frantically. He scooped Fallon up in his arms, and he and the kids quickly turned around to go back into the house. They started sprinting, but they nearly collided with Hotch and Emily, who had been trailing behind them.

"Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa! It's okay! We won't let him hurt you!" Emily told the panicked children as she and Hotch tried to block them from running back into the house.

"Move, bitch!" Charlie exclaimed, trying shove Emily out of his way. He was trying to be strong and tough, but Emily could see the fear in his eyes.

"Charlie! He can't hurt you anymore!" Emily exclaimed. She looked at Hotch, who was struggling to prevent Addison and Luke from running back into the house. "He will never lay a hand on any of you again! Look at Agent Morgan!" Emily said, pointing to Morgan. Morgan was handcuffing Bregoli and putting him in one of the SUVs. Once Charlie watched Morgan slam the SUV's door shut, he relaxed slightly. Addison and Luke stopped trying to run into the house once they saw that Bregoli was handcuffed in the back of an FBI SUV.

"I want to say something to him," Charlie said to no one in particular. He started walking towards the SUV that Bregoli was in. Addison and Luke followed him.

Emily was about to protest when Charlie walked away with Fallon still in his arms, but Hotch held her back. He shook his head. Emily sighed and settled on observing the kids from afar.

"Excuse me, Sir? Are you Agent Morgan?" Charlie asked, approaching Morgan. Addison and Luke stood behind him.

The kids had been conditioned to address all adults by the name they were told or as "Sir" or "Ma'am" if they didn't know the adult's name.

"Yes, I am. Are you Charlie, Addison, and Luke?" Morgan replied, looking at the skinny boy and the tiny girl in his arms.

"Yes, Sir," Charlie answered. Addison and Luke just nodded

It took Morgan a second to realize that Charlie was holding Hotch and Emily's daughter. He almost gasped, but he managed to contain himself. Fallon seemed to recognize Morgan for a moment too, but it quickly passed, just as it did when she saw Hotch and Emily.

"And this little one must be-" Morgan said before being cut off.

"Fallon," Fallon finished for the agent.

"We would like talk to the man you just handcuffed," Charlie said. A look of panic flashed in his eyes. "Please," he added quickly, shying away in case he was about to get hit. Morgan looked at Charlie unsurely. He looked at Hotch. Hotch nodded, and Morgan looked at Charlie again.

"I'll roll down the window for you," Morgan told the kids. He opened the door on the driver's side of the SUV and rolled the backseat window on the same side of the vehicle. The kids walked up to the window. Bregoli saw them and scooted closer to the window, making the kids back up a few steps.

"Oh, Byrd! Lark! Wren! And little Phoenix! Tell this nice man who I am so he can let me go!" Bregoli pleaded. He smiled hopefully at the children. His smile was met with a scathing glare from each of the children.

"Agent Morgan, he wants us to tell you that he is our daddy. He wants us to tell you that we love him and don't want him to be taken away from us. What he doesn't want us to tell you is how he abused us. How he starved us. How he tortured us, and how he filmed himself torturing us," Fallon told the agent. She saw Bregoli's indignant expression and gave him a little smirk. Morgan was taken aback by the small girl's extensive vocabulary, and he had forgotten how sassy she could be.

"We hope you burn in hell, you despicable sack of shit!" Charlie exclaimed at Bregoli. The rest of the kids voiced their agreement and began hurling more insults at the deplorable man. They were finally releasing the words that they had been biting back for years. Hotch and Emily ran over when they heard the commotion and saw the kids giving Bregoli a piece of their mind.

"Okay! That's enough!" Morgan interjected, closing the window, which separated Bregoli and the kids.

"Hey, kids! Why don't we go down to the police station? We can get something to eat there," Emily suggested, trying to redirect the children's attention.

Charlie look at Emily reluctantly. Then, he looked at Addison, Luke, and Fallon. They looked back at him with hopeful eyes. He knew they were just as hungry as he was. "I think it's safe to go, and besides, we can't go much longer without food," he told the kids. He turned to Emily and Hotch. "We'll go, but we want to stay together please," he told them, remembering to say "please."

"We promise not to separate you," Hotch told the children.

"Thank you," Charlie said gratefully, and with that, Hotch and Emily led the kids to their SUV.


	5. Chapter 5

Tasked with figuring out how to six people in a five-person SUV, Hotch, Emily, and the kids were the last to leave. Fallon needed a carseat because she was the size of a toddler, and the other three kids were in need of booster seats.

It was eventually decided that Hotch would drive with Emily riding in the passenger seat. Addison and Luke would sit in the backseat with Charlie sitting in between them, and Fallon would sit on Charlie's lap.

The twenty minute drive back to the LAPD precinct was quiet. Hotch and Emily didn't talk much. They were thinking about the children. The kids whispered to each other or communicated with their version of sign language.

* * *

Once they arrived at the LAPD precinct, Hotch and Emily helped the kids get out of the SUV, and they ushered them into the building. They needed a place for the kids to stay while they ordered food and contacted social services. Emily suggested bringing the kids to a juvenile interview room.

The juvenile interview rooms contained an assortment of toys to entertain and calm children who were being interviewed as victims or witnesses.

The children's eyes widened when Hotch and Emily took them into the juvenile interview room. They hadn't expected to see such a nice room with toys in it. They were expecting to be put in a small, dark room with nothing in it. The colorful room had pale yellow walls with butterflies, bumblebees, flowers, and leaves painted on them. It had a big window that gave the kids a view of the city. There was a table with two chairs in the middle the room, and along the walls, there were shelves with different kinds of toys. There was also two small armchairs in one of the back corners of the room. There was a child-sized table with paper, coloring and activity books, and different coloring utensils neatly placed on top of it in the other back corner. The room had far exceeded the children's expectations.

The kids stared at the assortment of toys in awe, but they didn't dare touch them. Touching things without permission usually resulted in a beating. The agents were being nice, and the kids didn't want to anger them.

"Are you okay with staying in here while Agent Hotchner and I get you some food?" Emily asked the kids.

The kids nodded quickly, fearing repercussions if they said no.

"What do you want to eat?" Hotch asked, opening a small notepad.

The kids looked at Hotch like he had four heads. They were shocked. They hadn't been allowed to make their own decisions in years. They weren't used to being given a choice in what they wanted. They couldn't believe that Hotch was letting them choose whatever they wanted to eat. They we're afraid that Hotch was just taunting them and fully intended to make the decision himself, like Bregoli had done many times during their captivity.

"May I please have noodles?" Fallon spoke up hesitantly. She looked at the two agents and nervously toyed with the fraying ribbon that was tied around the neck of her stuffed bunny.

"Do you want anything on your noodles?" Hotch asked, writing down his daughter's request down. He and Emily already knew what Fallon's answer was going to be. She was going to ask for butter on her noodles, like she had always done before her abduction.

"Just butter please," Fallon told Hotch.

Hotch wrote "butter" down next to the tiny girl's order. He didn't need to write it down. He remembered that buttered noodles were his daughter's favorite food. After seeing Hotch take Fallon's food request seriously, the other three kids felt a little more confident that the decision really was theirs.

"I'd like pizza please," Addison and Luke said in synchrony.

"I want a cheeseburger please," Charlie said.

Hotch wrote down the remaining orders, then gave the children a small smile. "Agent Prentiss and I will go get you food and bring it back to you as quickly as we can," Hotch said. He was about to say something else when a knock at the door made all the kids jump. Hotch held up his index finger, telling the kids to wait a moment. He and Emily turned around and opened the door. JJ was standing outside of the room with Reid and Morgan.

"I contacted social services. They're sending over a social worker. The social worker will help us decide what to do with the kids," JJ informed the two agents in a hushed voice. Hotch and Emily nodded understandingly in response. "How are you two holding up?" Morgan asked. Emily took a deep breath, and JJ gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

"Morgan, can you talk with Charlie?" Hotch said, redirecting the conversation and earning a nod from Morgan. He turned to JJ. "JJ, can you talk to Addison and Luke?" he asked. The blond profile nodded at her boss. "And Reid, can you talk to Fallon?" Hotch asked. He figured that the agent and his daughter would find something to bond over, since they both had eidetic memories and extraordinarily high IQs. He looked at Reid for confirmation. Reid nodded at Hotch.

"Remember, these kids have spent the last few years being held captive by a violent sexual predator. There is no doubt that they are traumatized. Keep your faces and voices friendly. They may be hesitant to open up about what they've gone through. If they don't want to talk about something, don't push them," Hotch quietly told his agents, even though they didn't need the reminder. The agents nodded their understanding, and Hotch and Emily turned around to face the kids, who were staring at them.

"Is it okay if some of our friends hang out with you while Agent Hotchner and I go get your food?" Emily asked.

The kids nodded in response, still afraid to say no.

"Don't worry, they're all very nice," Emily assured the kids after seeing the terrified looks on their faces. She let JJ, Reid, and Morgan into the room and introduced them to the children. She and Hotch said goodbye to the kids then left the room.

"Do you want to play with some toys?" JJ asked the children as she slowly approached them.

"Really?" Addison questioned. She had the most incredulous look on her face. She couldn't believe that she was getting food and getting to play with all the toys in the room.

"Of course," JJ told the girl. She gave the kids a friendly smile as she, Reid, and Morgan spread out and started pulling various toys and games off of different shelves.

* * *

As Hotch and Emily closed the juvenile interview room's door behind them John Bryant, the Chief of the LAPD, approached them.

"Agents Hotchner and Prentiss, are you sure that little one is your daughter? She acts like she's never seen you two in her life," John said.

"Yes, we're sure she's our daughter," Hotch replied flatly. He tried not to show how much the police chief's words irritated him. He felt Emily gripping his hand and gave her an understanding look.

"Oh, well she seems to have forgotten about you two," John said.

"Actually, she had an eidetic memory. It's impossible for her to have forgotten about us. She doesn't just forget about people she hasn't seen in a long time. What she's probably done is dissociated herself from me and Agent Hotchner. It's a psychological defense mechanism. To cope with the trauma that her abductor put her through, she repressed her memories of us. She knows who we are, but her ability to recognize us as her parents is locked away in her subconscious," Emily explained as calmly as she could. She gripped Hotch's hand tighter, trying to refrain from scowling at John.

"Interesting," John said before walking away.

"What a jackass," Emily muttered under her breath. She turned to Hotch and sighed. "It's really hard to see Fallon acting like we're complete strangers. I just want to hug her and never let her go, but I know that would definitely freak her out," Emily said sadly, looking at her daughter through the window. Hotch put an arm around his wife and pulled her close to him. "Don't worry, Emily. She knows who we are. She'll eventually remember," he told her encouragingly. He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Come on, we have to get food," he said, trying to Emily's mind off their daughter. She nodded, and the two headed for the exit.

* * *

 **Hey, everyone! I initially planned on posting this a few days from now, but everyone's reviews were so nice, and I decided to post it today! Thank you so much for reading! Please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

"Let's see what we got here," Morgan said as he, JJ, and Reid placed an assortment of toys, games, and other entertaining things on the table in the middle of the room.

"Here's a deck of cards...and there's some coloring books...and some dolls," Reid said, picking up various things and showing them to the kids.

"You can play with whatever you want," JJ told the children with a friendly smile. She gestured to the toys on the table.

The children looked at JJ, Morgan, and Reid suspiciously, like they were afraid the agents were luring them into a trap.

"Why don't we play Uno?" JJ suggested, picking up a box of Uno cards.

The kids nodded, not wanting to anger any of the agents.

The agents gave the kids friendly smiles, and everyone sat in a circle on the ground.

"Does anyone know how to shuffle cards?" Reid asked, holding the deck of cards towards the children.

"I do," Addison said, timidly raising her hand.

"Would you like to shuffle for us?" Reid asked, offering the cards to Addison.

Addison feared that the agent would lash out if she declined, so without speaking, she took the cards. She deftly shuffled them in her bony hands. Then, she handed the newly shuffled deck back to Reid.

"Does everyone know how to play Uno?" JJ asked.

"I forget how to play," Luke confessed shyly. He looked at the agents fearfully, like he was expecting them to hit him.

"Don't worry! I'm kind of rusty on the rules too," Morgan told the boy.

Before JJ could start explaining the rules, Fallon spoke up. She began explaining the rules of Uno to Luke and Morgan. Her simple explanation of the rules eventually spiraled into a short lecture about the history of the game. She stopped talking when she noticed all of the agents staring at her in awe. She shrank back in fear and embarrassment. "I'm sorry!" she squeaked, expecting to be smacked for talking too much. "Sometimes I ramble," she explained quietly.

"It's okay, kiddo. We're used to it. Doctor Reid does it all the time," Morgan said, grinning as he patted Reid on the back. Reid responded with an indignant look, and JJ giggled.

"I remember how to play now! Thanks!" Luke said, trying to make Fallon feel better. He gave her a small smile. Happy that she was able to help, Fallon smiled back in response.

"Since we all know how to play now, shall we begin?" JJ asked. The kids nodded, and Reid began dealing cards out to everyone. Once the cards were dealt, JJ took a card from the pile in the middle. She flipped it over and placed it down, starting the game.

* * *

After playing six games of Uno, the kids were starting to lose interest. They didn't dare to say anything though. They pretended to be engaged in the game, fearing punishment if they didn't act like they liked it.

The three profilers could tell that the kids were getting bored, so JJ suggested that they do something else. The kids gratefully took her suggestion and ended the game. Reid collected everyone's cards and put them back into their box, while JJ and Morgan led the kids to the table with all of the toys and games on it.

The children walked around the perimeter of the table, carefully surveying what was available to them. Addison and Luke's eyes landed on a big box of Legos. They looked at each other, then Luke used his hand to signal something to Addison. She nodded at him and looked at JJ. "Can we play with those?" Addison asked the blonde agent, pointing to the box of Legos. JJ smiled at the kids. "Of course you can," she told them. She picked up the box and handed it to Addison, who needed both arms to carry its weight. "Why don't we go over there so you two have space to build?" she suggested, gesturing to an open area a few feet away from the table. "Okay," Addison said unsurely as she tensed up. Thought JJ seemed trustworthy, Addison was still a little wary of her suggestion. She was always suspicious of people who tried to separate the group. She glanced over at Charlie. Charlie looked at Addison then at JJ. He signed something to Addison, and she relaxed a little. JJ led the kids to an area that was far enough from the group for her to talk to them more privately, but close enough that they could hear and see their friends.

Charlie spotted a foam football and pointed to it. "Am I allowed to play with that?" he asked, looking at Morgan. Morgan nodded and picked up the football. "Do you want to play catch?" he asked. Charlie remembered how he used to play catch in the backyard with his father everyday. He liked playing catch. It was comforting to him. It reminded him of happier times. "Sure," he said to Morgan, trying not to sound too eager. He had just planned on tossing the football in the air and catching it himself. It was a habit that he had picked up after his abduction. Whenever he was anxious or needed something to do, he'd pick up the nearest object and throw it in the air and catch it, imagining he was back home and playing with his father. Sometimes he'd throw multiple things in the air and see how many he could catch. He accidentally taught himself how to juggle by doing that.

Morgan noticed how Charlie's face lit up when he asked if the boy wanted to play catch. He figured the game had some kind of significance to him. He led Charlie towards the front of the room, where there was the most open space. They stood a few feet apart and began tossing the football to each other.

With Addison and Luke building with Legos and Charlie playing catch with Morgan, Fallon was the last of the children to find something to do. She was drawn to the arts and crafts table in one of the back corners of the room. She started wandering towards it, and Reid trailed behind her, keeping enough distance between himself and Fallon, so she wouldn't think that he was following her. Fallon turned around to ask Reid if she could use the stuff on the table. She flinched when she saw that Reid wasn't standing by the table in the middle of the room, which was where she last saw him. "Is it okay if I use some of this stuff?" she asked Reid. She looked up at him. "Sure. Would you mind if I joined you?" Reid replied. He waited for the tiny girl's answer before walking any closer to her. Fallon thought for a moment. She didn't have a problem with Reid joining her, but she looked at Charlie before giving her reply. Charlie, who had been keeping an eye on Addison, Luke, and Fallon while he was playing catch with Morgan, saw Fallon looking at him. She spelled out the word "safe" in sign language and gestured to Reid. Charlie looked at Reid. Reid appeared to be the least threatening of all the adults in the room, and Fallon seemed to trust him. Charlie nodded at Fallon, indicating that Reid was safe. Fallon looked at Reid. "I wouldn't mind if you joined me," she told him. Reid smiled at her, and the two took a seat at the child-sized table.

* * *

 **I know this was a boring chapter, but JJ, Reid, and Morgan start talking to the kids in the next one!**

 **Thanks for reading and don't forget to leave a review! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

"That's an impressive castle!" JJ complimented with a smile as she looked at the complex Lego structure that Addison and Luke had presented to her.

"Thank you," Addison and Luke said shyly.

"Do you want to help us build something?" Luke asked, pushing the box of Legos towards JJ.

"Sure," JJ answered, moving closer to the kids. She sat in front of Addison and Luke. She asked what they wanted to build. Addison suggested a prison. Luke suggested a house. JJ told both children that they had good ideas.

The blonde agent took note of the kids' suggestions. She theorized that there could be two possible reasons for Addison wanting to build a prison. One possible reason was that Addison's feelings of being trapped during her time in captivity were being reflected in her ideas. The other possible reason was that Addison wanted to build the place where she thought her abductor was. JJ theorized that Luke's desire to build a house represented the home that he was taken from him after his abduction and the home that he wished to return to.

Addison suggested that they build a house with a jail cell as a compromise. She suggested that everyone build different rooms, and then they would put all the room together once everyone was finished. Luke accepted Addison's compromise, and the three started building different rooms. Addison started building a jail cell. Luke started building a bedroom. JJ started building a kitchen.

The three didn't talk much while they built. Addison and Luke made occasional hand signals at each other or someone asked for a specific Lego every now and then, but aside from that, everyone was focused on building. Luke finished building his bedroom and put it to the side. He looked at Addison. "Do I have to build the Fun Room?" he asked. Addison stopped building her jail cell and turned to look at Luke. "No," she said quickly, before resuming her building.

Luke's mention of "the Fun Room" piqued JJ's interest. She decided to use it to start a conversation with the kids. "What's 'the Fun Room'?" she asked casually, trying not to sound too interested. Luke and Addison stopped building and looked up at her. "It's the room we go in when he makes us take off our clothes," Addison explained, thinking about all of the times she'd been in the Fun Room. She shuddered. She looked away from JJ and started building again, trying to distract herself from the memories. "He called it 'the Fun Room' because it was where we'd go when he wanted to have fun with us," Luke elaborated as he remembered the first time he was taken to the Fun Room. His face darkened. "It was never really fun in that room," he added quietly. He went back to building without saying anything else.

JJ's heart broke for the children. She thought of her own two children, the eldest of whom was Addison's age. She could tell by the way Luke flinched when he said it, that the word "fun" was definitely a euphemism for all the atrocious things that had been done to the children. "What did you do when you weren't in the Fun Room?" she asked, hoping to gain more insight into the kids' time in captivity while taking their minds off of the Fun Room.

"We mostly just stayed in our room. There wasn't much to do in there. We had to come up with ways to entertain ourselves, so we wouldn't die of boredom," Addison said.

"What were some of the things you did to entertain yourselves?" JJ asked.

"Sometimes we'd draw when he let us have stuff to draw with. We'd write and draw on the walls when we ran out of paper. We'd also read if he gave us books," Addison replied.

"Most of the toys he gave us were broken, so me and Addison would try to build new toys with parts from the broken ones. We also made up a game where we stacked things on top of each other. The winner was whoever could stack the most things without any of them falling," Luke added.

"That must be why you two are so good at building," JJ said with a smile. She could tell that Addison and Luke were the creative ones in the group. They were probably the ones who tried to keep everyone entertained, and they were probably the ones who came up with the most unique solutions to problems. JJ figured that the two had bonded over their creative thinking and similarity in age.

* * *

"You've got one heck of a spiral, kid!" Morgan complimented, barely managing to catch the foam football that Charlie had just thrown. He tossed the ball back to the lanky boy with a smile.

"Thank you. I was on a football team for little kids when I was younger. Me and my dad used to practice everyday after school," Charlie said, thinking back on the memories with fondness. He caught the ball and threw it back to Morgan. His anxiety about being separated from the other three had been slowly decreasing. He hadn't completely dropped his guard, but he was more relaxed. He was moving less rigidly, and he was allowing longer intervals of time to pass before he checked on the other three children again.

"I played football in high school and college," Morgan told the boy as he caught the ball. He hoped that having common interests would make Charlie more likely to talk to him. He threw ball back to Charlie, who caught it with ease.

"I've always wanted to be a professional football player, but that's probably never gonna happen," Charlie said sadly. He halfheartedly tossed the ball back to Morgan. The agent noticed the change in Charlie's throwing style. This last throw didn't have the same power that Charlie had been throwing with. It reflected the boy's self-doubt and lack of confidence.

"Hey, what makes you say that?" Morgan asked, halting the game of catch. He looked at Charlie with a serious expression on his face.

"He told me that I'd never amount to anything. He said that I was only good for fucking," Charlie said. He said the last word so casually that it took a second for it to register in Morgan's brain.

Morgan was surprised by the boy's strong language, then he remembered what Charlie had said to Bregoli. He had no doubt that Charlie had picked up a multitude of inappropriate words from his captor. He didn't want to think about all of the other explicit things that the kids had been regularly exposed to during their time in captivity.

Charlie decided to take advantage of the pause in their game of catch. He looked around the room, making sure that Addison, Luke, and Fallon were alright. He saw Addison and Luke chatting with JJ and building with the Legos. He saw Fallon and Reid sitting at the arts and crafts table, drawing and talking to one another. He was satisfied to see that everyone was still safe and that nothing had changed from since he last checked on them a few minutes ago. Morgan saw him checking on the other three kids. He knew that as the oldest child in the group, Charlie had taken on the role as the kids' protecter and nurturer. It obvious by the way the boy behaved. He always tried to keep the kids safe. He tried to keep them away from strangers until they proved they weren't a threat. He had picked up on the kids' subtle body language, and he knew how to comfort them if he saw that they needed it. He made sure that they were alright, checking on them periodically when they were separated from him. The kids looked to him for security and comfort.

"Listen to me, Charlie," Morgan said. Charlie immediately looked at the agent. He obediently waited for Morgan to continue. "Don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't do something. He was wrong about you. You _can_ and you _will_ amount to something. You can do anything if you work hard and set your mind to it. If you wanna be a professional football player, then be a professional football player. Prove him wrong. Be the best professional football player ever. Don't let him decide what you'll amount to. You're the only person that has control over that," Morgan told Charlie.

Charlie stared at Morgan like he was crazy. He'd spent the last five years with a man who treated him like property. Bregoli thought that Charlie was only useful when he was naked, and he made sure the boy knew it. He put Charlie down every chance he got, diminishing his self-esteem. Charlie had been conditioned to think that he would never be good enough and that his body was his only useful asset. It was a shock to hear an adult telling him anything contrary to what had been deeply ingrained inside of his brain.

"Have you seen me, Agent Morgan? Do I look like someone who's useful for anything other than fucking? I mean, look at me. I'm weak and skinny…well, I guess I'm kinda tall, and football players are tall…but what good does that do if I don't have any muscles?" Charlie said hopelessly. He let out a depressed sigh.

"Football players don't start out big and strong. They get that way by eating right and doing lots of exercise and training. When I started playing football, I wasn't big and strong. I had to eat more and work out a lot to get bigger and stronger. With proper nutrition and exercise, you can bulk up and get bigger and stronger too," Morgan said encouragingly.

"Do you really think that I could be a football player?" Charlie asked, starting to believe in himself a little bit.

"Yes, I do. I not gonna lie and tell you that it'll be easy or that it'll happen overnight, but if it's something that you really want and that you're willing to work for, then you can make it happen. You're a good kid, and I know that you can go far," Morgan told Charlie. Charlie gave him a small smile. He felt a small spark of hope after hearing Morgan's words. He believed the agent, but he didn't know why. There was just about the way Morgan looked into his eyes that told Charlie he meant every word he said.

* * *

"What are you writing?" Reid asked, peeking at the piece of paper that Fallon was writing on. The tiny girl's penmanship was almost illegible, but based on the few letters he thought he recognized, he suspected that she was writing in Russian.

"I'm practicing my Russian," Fallon replied, confirming Reid's suspicion.

He remembered one day when Emily and Hotch had brought Fallon to the BAU Headquarters three years ago. Fallon had just turned two years old. She was clutching her stuffed bunny — the same one that Fallon had placed on the table in front of her — in one hand and a large book in the other. It was a guide to learning Russian. When Rossi made a comment about the book, Emily explained that her daughter had found it on a bookshelf and started reading it. She explained how Fallon was teaching herself Russian because she wants to be "just like mommy". It didn't take long for Fallon to become fluent in the language. She and Reid liked to practice conversing in Russian whenever they had the chance. Reid knew that, like him, Fallon had an eidetic memory. He wondered if she could recall any memories of speaking Russian with him or if she had locked away all memories of her life before being abducted in her subconscious. Judging by the way she interacted with her parents, he was betting on the latter being true.

Fallon pushed her paper towards Reid, so he had a better view of what she was writing on it. She didn't offer to translate anything for him. She seemed to think that he was capable of reading it himself.

Reid picked up the paper and squinted at the it, trying to decipher the child's messy scrawl. From what he could read, he guessed that Fallon had written a poem. It was a poem about a girl whose eyesight is betrayed by her mind. The girl sees people and things that she knows, but her mind won't let her remember them, leaving her scared and confused.

After reading the poem, Reid realized that Fallon was using writing as a way to process her subconscious emotions about her parents' sudden reappearance in her life. "This is a beautiful poem," he told the small child as he handed back her paper. Fallon thanked him and told him that he could keep it if he wanted to. Reid thanked the girl and picked up the poem. He folded it and put it in his pocket, making a mental note to himself to show Hotch and Emily the poem when they returned.

"Where did you learn Russian?" Reid asked, curious about whether or not the question would prompt any memories to come up. Fallon looked at Reid, then thought for a moment, trying to remember the answer to his question. She shrugged. "I think it's just something I picked up. I don't remember ever learning it. I just remember realizing that I could understand it," she told him. She racked her brain, trying to picture herself learning Russian and what the circumstances around it were, so she could give Reid a more sufficient answer. Much to her frustration, she was drawing blanks and could only remember the day she realized she understood Russian. "What made you realize that you could understand Russian?" Reid asked. Fallon was pleased that she had an answer for Reid question this time. "I overheard two men speaking in Russian three years ago," she said. Reid responded with an interested nod. "What were they saying?" he asked. Fallon went over the conversation word-for-word in her head, making sure she remembered it correctly. "They were discussing prices. It was before I met Charlie, Addison, and Luke. I think I was being sold. They kept looking at me, and every time they looked at me, they changed their offer," she said. Reid let the new information sink in before continuing to ask questions. "Do you know who the two men were?" he asked. Fallon pictured the men's faces and shuddered. She picked up her stuffed bunny, which she had set down on the table in front of her. She started to fidget with the ribbon around her bunny's neck. "The first man was American. He told me to call him 'Uncle Robbie'. He's not my real uncle though. I don't know much about him. I only spent three days with him. He was the one who put me in his car and took me to his house. He said that he was keeping me until it was time to meet my new daddy. The second man spoke with a thick accent, even when he was speaking in English. I think he was actually from Russia. He never told his name, but I think Uncle Robbie called him 'Dmitry'. He was the one that drove me to my new daddy's house, where I met Charlie, Addison, and Luke. It was really long drive. I think he took me into a different state. I never saw him after he dropped me off. I think his job was to transport kids to their new families," Fallon told Reid, flinching overtime she mentioned her "new daddy".

It all made sense to Reid after hearing Fallon's answer. Now he knew why Fallon's abduction was so vastly different from the other three kids' abductions. It was because she wasn't abducted by the same person. He also knew how she ended up in Los Angeles. What he didn't know was why she ended up with Bregoli. Fallon was younger than all of his other victims were when he kidnaped them. It was a change in his victimology. Reid also didn't know why Bregoli would kidnap kids in Virginia and take them all the way to California. He presumed that it was because he was trying to avoid detection and prevent the kids from being found.

"Do you know why you were taken to live with a new daddy?" Reid asked. He was curious to see how many unanswered questions he could get answers to. Fallon shook her head. "I told Uncle Robbie that I already had a mommy and a daddy and that I didn't want a new daddy. He told me that he would be getting a lot of money for me, so I was going to get a new daddy whether I liked it or not. I asked why he was getting a lot of money, and I he told me that I was a good investment because I was young and cute," Fallon replied as she continued to fidget with her stuffed bunny's ribbon. It sickened Reid that Bregoli's change in victimology was caused by pure greed. He only changed his victimology because he knew that Fallon would be a good investment for him, since she was smaller and younger than the other three. He knew that he could make more money by abusing her on camera. It made Reid angry. He was about to ask Fallon about her old parents, to see if she remembered anything about Hotch and Emily, but he was interrupted by a knock at the door.

* * *

 **Wow! This was a long chapter! I hope it didn't bore you. As always, thanks for reading, and don't forget to leave a review! :)**


	8. Chapter 8

The kids flinched at when they heard the knock at the door; though they quickly relaxed once they realized it was probably Hotch and Emily with their food.

"JJ, is that the food?" Luke asked, looking at JJ.

"I think it is. Let's clean up, so you can eat," JJ answered. Luke and Addison quickly obeyed the blonde agent. They took apart the things they had constructed and put all of the Legos back in the box. JJ snapped the lid back onto the box and placed it back on the table.

Morgan and Charlie halted their game of catch, and Morgan set the foam football down on a nearby shelf.

Fallon abandoned the dragon that she was drawing when she heard the knock at the door. She put her marker back in the box and put all of the unused paper in a neat stack. She told Reid that he could keep the half-finished drawing that she had been working on. Reid thanked her and took it, so he could show her parents later.

Once they had finished cleaning up the things they were playing with, the kids scampered towards the door, eagerly awaiting Hotch and Emily's return.

The two agent entered the room, each carrying several bags of food.

"Who's ready to eat?" Emily asked, holding up a bag of food.

"Me!" the kids said excitedly, raising their hands.

"Is it okay if we take you to a different room, so we don't get any food on the toys?" Hotch asked.

The children nodded. They didn't care about where they would be eating. It had been so long since they had had real food. They just cared about the fact that they would be eating. Hotch and Emily could make them eat in a disgusting public restroom, and they would still be eternally grateful to the agents for feeding them.

"We'll take you to the kitchen," Emily said. She led the kids to the precinct's tiny kitchen.

The kitchen was mainly used as a place to store people's food, provide snacks, or make coffee during long shifts. There a small counter with a coffee maker on it. There was a sink built into the counter, and there was a refrigerator next to the counter. A few feet away from the counter, there was a long table with some chairs around it.

The kids sat down at the table, while Hotch and Emily set the bags of food down on the table and started pulling take-out containers out of the bags.

Fallon sat next to Charlie, who sat across from Addison and Luke.

"Here we have a cheeseburger for Charlie," Emily said, removing a burger wrapped in foil from a fast food restaurant bag. She handed the burger to the dark-haired boy. "Thank you," Charlie said.

"Here's the pizza for Addison and Luke!" Hotch said, setting a large pizza box down on the table. He opened it, revealing a large half-cheese/half-pepperoni pizza.

"And last but not least, we have some buttered noodles for Fallon," Emily said, taking a plastic to-go container out of a bag. She opened it up and placed it in front of Fallon.

"We forgot to ask what you all wanted to drink, so we just got an assortment of different sodas and juices and some bottles of water," Hotch said, placing packs of sodas and juices of all different flavors on the table.

"Would you mind if we ate with you?" Emily asked, hoping for a chance to speak with the kids and an opportunity to eat, since none of the agents had time to eat lunch.

Addison, Luke, and Fallon looked at Charlie, waiting for him to answer Emily's question.

"No, we wouldn't mind if you ate with us," Charlie said. He could tell that the younger three really liked and trusted all of the agents, and they hadn't given them any reasons not to. He was still a little wary, but they were starting to grow on him, especially Morgan.

"Feel free to dig in!" Emily said.

The children wasted no time. They began eating their food. They couldn't remember the last time they had eaten real food. It took every ounce of willpower that they had not to scarf down their food like animals. They had learned the hard way that inhaling their food the second they got it would make them sick. The first time Bregoli fed him an actual meal after leaving him with nothing both granola bars and water for a week, Charlie wolfed down his food then promptly vomited it back up. It happened a few times before Charlie made the connection between rapidly devouring his food and throwing it back up. Once he made the connection, he passed his knowledge down to Addison, Luke, and Fallon when they got their first meals after being left with little to no sustenance for an extended period of time. Each of the three ignored Charlie's advice the first time and made the mistake of scarfing down their food and having it come back up again. It only took them one time before they learned their lesson about eating at a moderate pace.

"I'm starving! You didn't happen to get-" JJ started to say hopefully.

"A double bacon cheeseburger with no onions, pickles, or mustard on it?" Emily finished for her friend. JJ's eyes lit up. She smiled as Emily handed her a foil-wrapped burger. "Thanks," she said, taking a seat next to Luke.

"Here, Morgan, we got you a meatball sub," Hotch said, handing the profiler a foot-long sub sandwich wrapped in wax paper. Morgan thanked his boss and took a seat next to JJ.

"Reid, we got you a chocolate milkshake and some chicken tenders with a side of fries," Emily said. She gave Reid his milkshake and a box with his food in it. She knew he needed the milkshake because he hadn't had his daily fix of sugar yet. Reid thanked the brunette and sat on the other side of JJ.

Emily took a Greek salad out of one the bags and sat next to Fallon. Hotch took a Philly cheesesteak sandwich out of a different bag and sat next to his wife.

The group made small talk, avoiding the two elephants in the room. The first elephant in the room was the kids' ordeal, and the second one was the fact that Fallon was Hotch and Emily's daughter.

They started off talking about animals, then the conversation shifted to baby animals, then to babies, and finally it landed on families.

"Do you have kids?" Fallon asked JJ.

"Yes, I have two sons, Henry and Michael," JJ told the tiny girl.

"That's cool!" Fallon said. She turned towards Reid. "Do you have kids, Doctor Reid?" she asked Reid, who was dipping a chicken tender in some ketchup.

"Nope," Reid replied, sticking a chicken tender covered in ketchup into his mouth.

"That's cool too," Fallon told the lanky. She turned towards Emily. "What about you Agent Prentiss? Do you and Agent Hotchner have any kids?" she asked, innocently looking at her mother. Emily nearly choked on the piece of lettuce she was eating, and the whole table fell silent. Everyone was staring at Fallon, who flinched and recoiled in fear. "I'm sorry! Did I say something wrong?" she squeaked, holding her arms in front of her face as if she was expecting Emily to strike her. Charlie protectively put his arm around her thin frame.

It broke Emily's heart to see her own daughter look so afraid of her. She and the other agents in the room noticed how Fallon asked if she and Hotch had any children. The small girl had remembered that her parents were married. It have Emily hope that Fallon would eventually remember who she and her husband were.

Emily, who was still recovering from the coughing fit that was brought on by the piece of lettuce she nearly choked on, was only able to shake her head in response to Fallon's fear-filled question. Hotch patted his wife on the back and handed her a bottles of water. "Don't worry, Fallon. You didn't say anything wrong. Your question just took Agent Prentiss by surprise. That's all," JJ told Fallon as Emily sipped some water. Once Emily had recovered, she turned towards Fallon to answer her question. "Yes, Agent Hotchner and I have a daughter...but it's...complicated," she told the small girl. Fallon nodded, accepting Emily's response.

As the group finished their lunches, there was an awkwardness that hung in the air after Fallon's question.

* * *

When everyone was finished eating, they went back to the juvenile interview room. Addison, Luke, and JJ went back to playing with the Legos. Charlie and Morgan resumed their game of catch. Reid and Fallon sat down at the arts and craft table and started drawing again. Hotch and Emily joined them.

The kids played for a few minutes, then three different social workers arrived at the station. John, the police chief, took them to the room the the children were in, interrupting what everyone was doing.

"Hello. This is Ms. June, Ms. Cranshaw, and Mr. Ribeiro. They are social workers," John told everyone.

"We're here to take the kids to their respective towns back in Virginia," Ms. Cranshaw announced.

Charlie's head whipped towards the other three kids. From what the social worker just said, it sounded like they were about to separate everyone, and he was not about to let that happen.

"Charlie Atwood, you're coming back to Dulles with me," Ms. June said.

"Addison Hough, you're coming back to Richmond with me," Ms. Cranshaw said.

"Luke Brown, you're coming back to Roanoke with me," Mr. Ribeiro said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What!?" Luke asked, clinging to Addison.

"What about me?" Fallon asked anxiously.

"You are being released into the custody of your parents," John told the tiny girl.

"My parents?" Fallon questioned, trying to recall who her parents were.

"That would be us," Emily said awkwardly. She gestured to herself and Hotch.

"I barely know you. You're not my parents," Fallon said, moving away from the two agents.

Emily and Hotch felt their hearts break when Fallon rejected them.

"Why can't we go back to our parents?" Addison asked.

"Michael Bregoli killed your parents," Ms. Cranshaw told the blonde girl.

"Our parents are dead!?" Luke asked in sheer horror.

"Yes, and we've decided that it would be best to send you back to your hometowns, so a local social worker can place you in an appropriate foster home. Now go to your assigned social worker. You're all booked on the soonest flights back home," John told the kids.

"No! You can't do this!" Charlie exclaimed.

"Come on, Charlie. Our flight is in thirty minutes," Ms. June said, losing patience. She grabbed the boy's skinny arm.

"Don't touch me, bitch!" Charlie screeched as he violently flinched at the social worker's touch. He shoved her hand off of him. His panicked eyes darted across the room and landed on Fallon, who looked at him with an equally fearful expression. He then looked at Addison and Luke, who had grabbed onto each other.

"Get the kids," John said, gesturing to the other two social workers.

"NO!" Addison and Luke screamed, tightening their grip on each other.

Chaos erupted in the room as Ms. Cranshaw and Mr. Ribeiro approached the two and tried to pull them apart. Charlie fought against Ms. June's grasp on his arm. Fallon ran towards Charlie and held onto his other arm. "Don't let them separate us, Charlie!" she cried out. Emily and Hotch tried to gently move their daughter out of the social worker's way, while JJ, Reid, and Morgan tried to reason with the social workers and calm the children. Ms. Cranshaw and Mr. Ribeiro ripped Addison and Luke away from each other. They each tried to restrain their respective child. Addison and Luke screamed and cried. They kicked and flailed, desperately trying to break free from the social workers' arms.

"You promised not to separate us!" Charlie yelled at Hotch and Emily. Tears pricked at his eyes as he struggled to get away from Ms. June, who was trying to drag him out of the room.

Hotch and Emily looked at each other. Charlie was right. They had promised not to separate the kids.

"Isn't there something that can be done, so they don't have to be separated?" Emily asked.

"We can't find a foster home that's willing to take in three traumatized kids on such short notice," Mr. Ribeiro said.

"We'll take them," Emily blurted out, causing the chaos to come to a halt. Hotch looked at his wife in shock. "Agent Hotchner and I will take the kids," Emily stated, looking at her husband pleadingly. Hotch sighed. He knew how detrimental it would be to separate the children, and he and Emily were people who kept their word. "That's right. We will take the children," he said, backing up his wife.

The social workers all looked at Hotch and Emily then at each other. "Are you absolutely about this?" Ms. Cranshaw asked. Hotch and Emily confirmed that they were sure. "Normally, we'd have to do a home visit and a background check first, but under these circumstances, we can deal with those things when you return to Virginia," Ms. June said. She and the other social workers relaxed their hold on the children. The kids broke free from their social workers' loosened grips and ran to Hotch and Emily, who were holding onto their daughter. Fallon jumped out of her parents' arms and joined the other three children in a group hug.

"If you two are really sure about this, then I'll need you to fill out some paperwork," Mr. Ribeiro told Hotch and Emily. The two agents followed him, the other social workers, and John out of the room.

* * *

"Emily, are you absolutely certain that you want to take in three traumatized children right now?" Hotch asked his wife as the social workers placed stacks of legal documents in front of him and Emily. The social workers had brought them to an empty desk that was a few feet away from the juvenile interview room.

"Yes, I'm certain that I want to do this," Emily replied, skimming the papers in front of her.

"It's a lot to take on...especially since Fallon is back with us..." Hotch said, trying to convince himself more than his wife that this wasn't a good idea.

"Look at them, Aaron," Emily said, gesturing to the window of the juvenile interview room. She and Hotch looked into the room. They watched the children, who had not broken their group hug yet. They saw the kids whispering things to each other. It looked like they were reassuring each other. Emily looked back at her husband. "Those three kids' parents were murdered. They're all each other has, and they're the only family that our daughter recognizes. We can't break up the only family that those kids have," she said. Hotch looked at Emily. He knew that she was right. He sighed deeply. "You're right," he told his wife. Emily gave him a smile, which he returned with a small grin. The couple looked at the kids again, then started reviewing the paperwork that the social workers gave them.


	9. Chapter 9

After Hotch and Emily finished filling out a mountain of paperwork and signing several legal documents, the children were released into their custody.

Eager to give the children a chance to rest, Hotch and Emily decided to take them back to the hotel. They said goodbye to everyone at the police station. As the two agents were getting the kids ready to leave, JJ informed them that reporters were already beginning to gather in front of the station. While the blonde agent gave a short statement to the press, Hotch, Emily, and the kids quietly slipped out the back of the building, making sure they didn't draw attention to themselves.

Hotch, Emily, and the kids piled into one of the SUVs and pulled out of the parking lot.

"Can I get changed when we get to the hotel?" Addison asked hesitantly.

Hotch and Emily realized that the only clothing the kids had was what they were wearing.

"We need to go shopping for some new clothes. Do you want to do that now or go straight to the hotel?" Emily replied, turning around to face the children.

Addison's face lit up when Emily said "shopping." She looked at Charlie. "Can we please go shopping?" she begged. Charlie shrugged. "Sure. We need clothing," he told her. A small smile crept across Addison's face. She hadn't had something to look forward to in years.

Emily turned to face towards the front of the car again. She quickly used her cellphone to look up the closest clothing store. She found a Target that was a few miles away, and gave Hotch directions.

About ten minutes later, Hotch pulled into the parking lot of Target and parked the SUV near the front of the store. The kids unbuckled themselves and got out of the car. Charlie held Fallon's hand, and Addison and Luke held hands. Emily led the kids into the store, while Hotch trailed behind them. The inside of the store was just like any other department store, but it was enough to throw the kids off guard. They hadn't been in a public setting like that in a long time. "There's a lot of people here," Fallon anxiously whispered to Charlie. She held his hand tighter clutched her stuffed bunny close to her chest. The older boy gave her hand a reassuringly squeeze. "It's okay. I won't let anyone hurt you," he told the small girl. That seemed to appease Fallon, and she visibly relaxed.

Emily quickly ushered the children towards the kids' clothing section of the store, while Hotch got a cart. She and Hotch walked around with them as they picked out clothing. A floral sundress caught Addison's eye. She shyly pointed it out to Emily. "I like that dress, Agent Prentiss," she whispered. Emily smiled at the girl and plucked a hanger off the rack. She handed it to Addison. "Do you think this will fit you?" she asked. Addison held the dress up to her thin body. She nodded, giving Emily a smile and a thumbs-up.

After walking around for several more minutes, Charlie found a Los Angeles Rams football jersey. He stared at it longingly. Emily noticed this, and a small-sized jersey joined Addison's sundress in the cart.

As the kids spent more time in the store, they started getting used to being in public again. They were a little bit less anxious, and they were slightly less hesitant when pointing out clothing that they liked. Every time they asked for something, they instinctively flinched, fearing that Hotch or Emily would lash out them, but that was beginning to happen less and less as they continued to browse through the kids' clothing section of the store. They were starting to genuinely trust the two agents.

The kids circled around numerous times, looking at the various articles of clothing for sale. With each loop around the clothing section, more stuff was added to the cart. Soon, all of the children except for Fallon had put together several outfits that they liked. Hotch noticed that there wasn't any clothing in the cart for the youngest of the children. Emily and the three other kids were looking at pajamas, all of which were way too big for the tiny girl. Fallon was awkwardly standing next to the cart, watching as Emily helped Charlie, Addison, and Luke search for pajamas in their size.

"Hey, Fallon. Are you having trouble finding clothing?" Hotch asked, kneeling down so that he was eye-level with his daughter.

"I don't think any of these clothes will fit me," Fallon replied dejectedly.

Hotch grabbed the closest extra small-sized article of clothing. It was a pink t-shirt with a poodle on it. The dark-haired agent caught himself before he held it up to Fallon's body to see if it would fit. It was something that he and Emily used to do when they shopped for their daughter before her abduction. Fallon was always in between sizes, and they never knew what size would fit her best. They held clothing up to her body to try and get an idea of how it would fit, so they could choose the size that would fit better. Hotch knew that reaching towards the small girl's torso would startle her. Instead, he handed her the shirt. "How about this?" he asked. Fallon looked at the shirt then held it in front of her torso. It was too big, but she was too afraid to tell Hotch. She shrank back and looked up at him fearfully. "It's nice," she lied nervously, handing the shirt back to Hotch. She fidgeted with the ribbon around her stuffed bunny's neck.

It broke Hotch's heart to see his daughter so afraid to tell him about something as simple as not fitting into a shirt. He shook his head. "I think it might be a little too big for you," he told her, putting the shirt back on the shelf he found it on. He thought for a moment. "Do you want to look in a different section for clothing?" he asked. Fallon nodded. "Yes, please," she said softly. Hotch gave the girl a small smile. He tapped his wife, who was still helping the other three children find pajamas, on the shoulder. He told her that he and Fallon were going to look for clothing that would fit her. Charlie overheard Hotch and whipped around to face him and Fallon. He looked at the agent suspiciously. He was extremely wary of grown men being alone with children. He looked at Fallon to see how she felt about it. She didn't seem to have any objections to going with Hotch by herself. "Are you okay with this?" he whispered to her. He just wanted to be sure that she wasn't uncomfortable or scared. Fallon nodded. "Yes, I trust him. I don't know why, but I trust him," she whispered back to the older boy. Charlie nodded understandingly. "Be careful," he told the tiny girl. He didn't expect Hotch to do anything to Fallon. The agent hadn't given him any reasons not to trust him, but Charlie was still wary. He let Fallon and Hotch go, then he went back to looking at pajamas.

Hotch and Fallon walked a few feet away from the kids' clothing section and found the baby/toddler clothing section. Fallon looked around, finally seeing clothing that was her size. She and Hotch wandered around the baby/toddler clothing section, picking up various articles of clothing.

Hotch and Fallon returned to Emily and the other three children with a dress, three shirts, two pairs of pants, a pair of pajamas, and a onesie in tow. Hotch placed Fallon's clothing in the cart.

"Does everyone have enough clothing?" Emily asked.

The kids nodded.

"Thank you," Addison and Luke said in unison.

"Thanks," Charlie said.

"Thank you," Fallon said.

Hotch and Emily smiled at the kids. They all headed to the check-out counter to make their purchases.

* * *

After they bought the kids' clothing, Hotch and Emily loaded their shopping bags into the trunk of their SUV. Everyone got into the car and buckled themselves in. The car ride to the hotel was quiet. The children's adrenaline from their rescue and their second wind from the shopping trip were starting to wear off. Their exhaustion was finally hitting them. Addison and Luke fell asleep with their heads resting against one another's. Fallon fell asleep on Charlie's lap. Charlie was still on high alert. He stayed awake, so he could watch over the children and keep them safe. He was always the last one the fall asleep.

The ride back to the hotel lasted twenty minutes. Addison and Luke started to wake up a few minutes before Hotch pulled into the parking lot. Fallon was still asleep by the time Hotch had finished parking the SUV. Hotch got out of the car and unlocked all the doors. He opened the door for Addison and Luke, and they politely thanked him before hopping out of car. Emily opened Charlie's door. He was trying to figure out how to get out of the car without waking Fallon. Emily watched him struggle for a minute, then offered to take Fallon. After one more failed attempt at exiting the car without waking the sleeping child, Charlie reluctantly allowed Emily to pick Fallon up. He watched cautiously as she stirred in her sleep as Emily lifted her off his lap. He relaxed once she settled down again and rested her head on Emily's shoulder. He was secretly relieved to have someone else carrying Fallon for a little while. Usually he was the one holding her. He didn't mind. She wasn't heavy, but sometimes his arms got tired. His strength was limited after the years of neglect and abuse that he suffered during his captivity.

Carrying Fallon was surreal for Emily. She couldn't believe that she was really holding her daughter. She was not prepared for this. She spent the last three years believing Fallon was dead. She didn't think she'd ever see her daughter again, yet here she was, sleeping soundly in her arms like she used to before the abduction. It was almost as if nothing had changed, yet everything had changed. Three years had passed, but the feeling of Fallon in her arms was the same. Emily thought about the countless number of times she'd carried her sleeping daughter into the house after she'd fallen asleep in the car. This time didn't feel any different. Fallon was virtually the same size she was before her abduction. The way Emily's arms were wrapped around her daughter's sleeping body was the same. The weight that she bore was the same. The way that Fallon's head rested on her shoulder was the same. The way she was nestled against Emily's body was the same. While things were the practically same in a physical sense, Emily knew that that was the only thing that had stayed the same. It would be a long and difficult journey as she, her husband, and their daughter worked through everything else that had changed.

* * *

 **Hey, everyone! I'm super sorry for not updating sooner! I've been super busy with school. Thanks for** **reading and please review! :)**


	10. Chapter 10

On her way back from the police precinct, JJ had called the hotel about making accommodations for an additional four people. Once everything was worked out, she texted Hotch and Emily to let them know what was happening.

Hotch brought all of the shopping bags into the hotel, while Emily carried Fallon. Charlie, Addison, and Luke walked with the two agents. Emily waited with the kids in the sitting area of the lobby, while Hotch walked up to the front desk to pick up new room keys.

JJ told the couple that the hotel didn't have any suites that could fit six people in them. The hotel offered to bring four cots into Hotch and Emily's room, but JJ decided that the kids deserved to sleep in beds, even if it was just for one night. It was eventually decided that Hotch and Emily would be moved to a room down the hall from their original room. Inside of their new room was a door that would lead into an adjacent room with two queen-sized beds.

After Hotch picked up new room keys for the two rooms, the group headed towards the elevator. Hotch pressed the up button, and everyone waited for the elevator to arrive.

"Can I press the button when we get on?" Luke asked softly.

"Of course you can," Hotch said with a friendly grin. A few seconds later, the elevator doors opened, and everyone stepped inside. "We're on the eighth floor," Hotch told Luke. Luke quickly located the button with the number eight on it and pressed it. He smiled cheerfully when it lit up. He looked at Hotch. He was used to looking at his captor's reaction immediately after completing a task. Bregoli's abuse had conditioned the kids to second guess themselves and everything they do. They believed that everything they did was either wrong or bad unless they were told otherwise, so they would always watch his reaction to see if they had done something good or completed a task correctly. He would either give the them approval when they did something correctly or when he liked what they did, or he would punish them when they did something wrong or when he didn't like what they did. Luke always hoped for approval. When Hotch gave the boy a thumbs-up and a smile, his face lit up like the New York city skyline.

The elevator ride was quiet. Everyone was exhausted.

* * *

Once they reached the eighth floor, Hotch and Emily led the kids to the new room. The children couldn't contain their shock when Hotch opened the door, revealing a clean decently-sized hotel room.

"We're staying here?" Addison asked incredulously.

"Is that okay with you?" Hotch asked, looking at the girl.

"This is more than okay! This is amazing!" Addison said with an enthusiastic nod. She smiled at the dark-haired agent, who smiled back at her.

Hotch brought the kids' clothing into the room and set it down on a desk.

"Which one of us gets to sleep in the beds?" Luke asked.

"All of you. You'll have to share a bed with someone else, but there's more than enough room for everyone," Emily told the boy with a friendly smile. The kids didn't mind sharing a bed. They were used to it. There was only a filthy twin-sized bed in the room they'd been kept in. Only two of them fit comfortably in the bed, so they took turns sleeping in it. Some nights, Addison and Like would share the bed, and Charlie and Fallon would sleep on the floor. Other nights, Charlie and Fallon would get the bed, and Addison and Luke would be on the floor.

"It's about 5:30 right now. Is anyone hungry for dinner or do you all want to rest?" Hotch asked the kids.

"I'm a little hungry," Luke admitted sheepishly. He flinched, expecting to be hit.

"Me too," Charlie added, giving Luke a reassuring pat on the back. He gave the younger boy a gentle smile.

"Me three," Addison added.

"Are you okay with ordering room service?" Hotch asked the children. The children nodded. He found a room service menu on the desk and handed it to the kids to look through. The kids sat on one of the beds and excitedly flipped through the dinner menu, reading about the different dishes.

While the three children looked at the room service menu, Hotch walked into the adjoining room to go change. Emily volunteered to watch the children and help them order their food. Fallon was still asleep in her mother's arms, so Emily tried to put her down on the other bed. Fallon had her arms loosely draped around the agent's neck. When Emily tried to set her daughter down, the tiny child wouldn't let go. The agent realized that something in Fallon's subconscious mind was telling her that she was safe, so she was clinging to whatever was giving her that sense of security. Emily sat down on the bed, allowing Fallon to continue sleeping in her arms.

A short while later, the kids told Emily that they had decided on what they wanted to eat.

Emily didn't want to wake Fallon up by using the room's phone to call room service, so she asked Charlie, Addison, and Luke if they wanted to help her order the food. They immediately agreed to help the agent, fearing punishment they didn't, but they were hesitant because they feared that they'd be the ones making the call. They quickly relaxed once Emily told them that they wouldn't need to make any calls. In each room of the hotel, there was an iPad that guests could use to order food and request the services that were offered. When Emily told them they'd get to use the iPad to order, they were more than happy to help. The kids took the iPad off the night stand that was between the beds and brought it over to Emily, so she could help them order. They took turns selecting what they wanted and adding it to their order. Emily was amused by how amazed the kids were with the iPad.

Once the kids finished ordering, Addison asked if she could take a shower and change. She was almost fearful of Emily's answered, expecting to be beaten for making her request. The agent told the girl that she and any of the other kids were more than welcome to shower and change. Addison thanked Emily. She selected a nightgown and a fresh pair of underwear, then scampered into the bathroom to take her shower. Emily trusted that the older kids could shower alone, and she assumed that they'd want their privacy. She wasn't sure about Fallon though. While, her daughter was extremely mature for her age, she was still young, and Emily didn't know if she'd be able to bathe by herself. She didn't know how bathing worked while the kids were in captivity, but she decided she'd cross that bridge when she got to it.

Hotch figured that the kids would need something to do while they waited for their food, so he downloaded a bunch of kid-friendly apps and games onto his personal iPad. He brought his iPad to the kids' room and let Charlie and Luke play with it. The two boys thanked Hotch and played Candy Crush while they waited to shower.

Hotch walked over to Emily and kissed her on the cheek. "Do you want to change? I can take her," he told his wife. Emily smiled graciously. She managed to handed Fallon over to Hotch without any problems, then she left to change.

* * *

"I'm so happy! I feel so fresh and clean!" Addison announced breezily. She twirled out of the bathroom, the fabric of her nightgown spinning with her. She stopped dead in her tracks when he saw Hotch and Emily, who was sitting next to her husband on the bed. She shrunk back. "I'm sorry! I thought you two were in your room," she quickly apologized. Emily gave the girl a friendly smile. "No need to apologize, Addison. I'm glad you're happy," Hotch told her. Addison smiled back at the two agents, then joined Charlie and Luke.

Luke was the next person who showered. He was finished in about twenty minutes, and he left the bathroom wearing his new Batman pajamas. Charlie showered next. He was the fastest, showering in ten minutes. He wore his new plaid flannel pajama pants and a plain white t-shirt.

A few minutes after the three older kids had finished showering, a knock at the door startled them. "Room service!" a voice called out. The kids perked up. They followed Hotch as he got up to open the door. A man rolled a table/cart into the room, and another man rolled a second larger table/cart in behind the first guy.

"We only ordered four things...Why are there two carts?" Hotch asked.

"Ice cream sundae bar for the kids, courtesy of the hotel," the man with the bigger table/cart replied.

"Is that really for us?" Luke asked Hotch in disbelief. He pointed to the larger table/cart. Hotch nodded. "I guess so," he told the boy.

"Here we have: two orders of spaghetti and meatballs, one order of macaroni and cheese, and one order of buttered noodles," the man with the smaller dining table/cart said, uncovering each order as he announced it. He had placed the table/cart between the two beds, so the kids could sit on the bed while they ate.

"And when you're ready for dessert, we brought an ice cream sundae bar for you!" the other man said, gesturing to his table/cart.

The kids thanked the men, then they sat down to eat. Hotch thanked and tipped the two men. Before leaving, they handed him with an ice cream scooper and told him that the ice cream was located in a miniature freezer under the table/cart.

Hotch wasn't sure if he should wake his daughter up or let her sleep. Before he could decide what to do, Fallon started to stir. She slowly opened her eyes and blinked groggily. He gently put her down on the bed and smiled at her. "Hey, Fallon. We got you some buttered noodles. Are you hungry?" Hotch said as the small girl woke up. Fallon nodded and thanked Hotch for the food. She joined Charlie, Addison, and Luke, and the four kids ate their food together.

* * *

While the kids were eating, another knock at the door startled them.

"Knock, knock!" Garcia called out cheerfully.

The kids looked expectantly at Hotch and Emily, who got up to answer the door.

Garcia, JJ, Reid, Morgan, and Rossi were standing outside the room.

"We have a few things for the kids!" Garcia announced cheerfully. She held up several shopping bags.

"Oh, guys…you didn't have to do this," Emily said, eyeing the overstuffed bags that everyone was carrying.

"Oh hush! Old Moneybags over there insisted!" Garcia replied, gesturing to Rossi. Hotch and Emily looked at the older profiler.

"After what they've gone through, the kids deserve it," Rossi said simply. He pushed past the couple and entered the room before they could protest. The rest of the BAU team followed Rossi into the room. The agents smiled at the children to show they weren't a threat.

"Hi, kids! My name is Agent Rossi," Rossi told the children. Fallon thought she recognized Rossi, but she wondered if she was just seeing things. She took a closer look at him and realized that she did in fact know him. "Uncle Dave!" she called out joyously. Ignoring the shocked stares from everyone around her, she hopped off the bed and ran to Rossi. She threw her twig-like arms around his leg. Rossi couldn't contain his surprise, allowing a tiny gasp to escape from his mouth. "It's me, Fallon!" the small girl told the agent. Rossi set his shopping bags down on one of the beds, then he bent down to pick Fallon up. She hugged him tightly. "You remember me?" Rossi asked. Fallon nodded. "You're my godfather. You're really good friends with my mom and dad," she replied. Rossi smiled at the tiny child. "That's right! Do you remember who your mom and dad are?" he asked. Hotch and Emily looked at Fallon hopefully, but she shook her head. "I'm sorry, Uncle Dave. I'm trying really hard to picture them, but I can't," Fallon told the profiler. She looked at him sadly. "That's okay, Fallon. You'll remember them eventually," Rossi reassured her. Fallon gave him a hopeful smile.

Hotch and Emily couldn't help but feel slightly jealous of Rossi. They knew the older agent couldn't help it, but they wondered why Fallon remembered him instead of them.

"Why are you here?" Fallon asked Rossi. Rossi gave the other children a friendly smile. "Because my friends and I brought you all some gifts!" he announced to the kids. The children dropped their eating utensils and curiously rushed over to the agents and Technical Analyst. They couldn't believe that someone had gotten them gifts. It had been years since they'd received a gift. They crowded around the BAU team, wondering if Rossi was telling the truth or playing a cruel trick on them.

Rossi introduced Garcia, who was holding four bags. Each bag was labeled with one of the children's names.

"We all chipped in and got each of you a brand new Nintendo 3DS!" Garcia told the kids.

The children's mouths dropped open. They were sure this was a joke. They couldn't believe that someone would be nice enough to spend that much money on them. Although they were suspicious, they thanked the technical analyst as she handed them their bag. Charlie hesitantly looked into his bag, and sure enough, a box for a brand new Nintendo 3DS was inside of it. He reached into his bag and took the box out. He opened the box and a shiny metallic black gaming system was inside. The other children followed Charlie's lead, and opened the boxes in their bags. Addison got a glossy pink Nintendo 3DS, Luke got a metallic red one, and Fallon got a shiny purple one. A chorus of "thank you's" erupted from the children. The kids were touched by the BAU team's kindness, and their gratitude was evident in their voices.

"Oh, and we couldn't get you gaming systems without any games to play on them..." Morgan said.

"So, we picked out three games for each of you!" JJ told the kids.

Morgan, JJ, and Reid started handing out games to the kids.

For Charlie, Morgan chose _Mario Kart_ , _Pokémon Sun_ , and _Madden NFL Football_. He chose _Mario Kart_ because he thought Charlie would like racing against the other characters. He thought about Charlie's protective and defensive nature and figured the boy would like taking care of Pokémon and battling with them. He remembered that Charlie liked football, so he got him a football game.

For Addison, JJ chose _Style Savvy: Trendsetters_ , _Animal Crossing: New Leaf_ , and _Disney Magical World_. JJ remembered Addison mentioning that she had an interest in fashion, so she got her the _Style Savvy_ game. She also remembered Addison telling that she liked Disney characters and movies. For Luke, JJ chose _Mario Party_ , _Cooking Mama 5: Bon Appétit_ , and _Animal Crossing: New Leaf_. She thought that Luke would enjoy _Mario_ _Party_ because it had a variety of minigames and challenges that he could choose from. She remembered Luke expressing an interest in cooking, so she got him the _Cooking Mama_ game. She figured that both Addison and Luke would have fun with _Animal Crossing_. They seemed to enjoy building, and JJ thought that they'd like a game that allowed them to be the mayor of a town. They could build up their towns and visit each other in the game.

Reid had to get help from Garcia when he was tasked with picking out games for Fallon. He choose a game that had different problems, puzzles, and riddles because he thought she'd like figuring out how to solve the challenges that the game presented her with. Garcia picked out the other two games. She chose _Nintendogs + Cats: Golden Retrievers & New Friends_ and _Pet Hospital_. She choose _Nintendogs_ because she knew that Fallon loved puppies, and she remembered how the young girl used to beg her parents for a puppy. She choose _Pet Hospital_ because she remembered a conversation that she had with Fallon before her abduction. During the conversation, Fallon talked to Garcia about wanting to be a veterinarian.

In addition to the Nintendos and games, the BAU team also got the children some non-electronic toys and games. They gave the kids coloring and activity books, markers and colored pencils, a deck of cards, a deck of Uno cards, a giant box of Legos, and some board games.

The children thanked everyone for their gifts, then they all took their new gaming systems out. While Garcia and Emily helped the kids set up their Nintendos, Hotch pulled the rest of the team aside. They huddled by the door.

"You really didn't have to do all of this," Hotch quietly told the agents.

"It was nothing. They deserve it," JJ said with a smile.

"Consider it a 'Welcome Home' present from all of us," Rossi said. Before Hotch could protest again, the older profiler stopped him. "Don't argue with me about this, Aaron," he told the younger agent. "But..." Hotch began to say before he was cut off by Rossi shushing him. Hotch sighed. He stopped arguing because he knew he'd lose. "Thank you," he told the team. Morgan smiled and patted Hotch on the back. "We were happy to do it," he told him with a smile.

The agents dispersed and went to see how the kids were doing. Only Hotch and Rossi remained by the door. Rossi felt a gentle tug on his pant leg and turned away from the group. He looked down and saw Fallon looking up at him.

"Excuse me, Uncle Dave. May I have some ice cream?" Fallon asked. She felt more comfortable around her godfather, and she was less afraid to ask him for things.

Rossi glanced at the kids' abandoned food on the dining table/cart. Charlie had finished his macaroni and cheese. Addison and Luke had eaten most of their spaghetti and meatballs. Fallon still had about half of her buttered noodles left.

"If you finish your dinner, I don't see why not," Rossi told Fallon. The small girl ran back to the dining table/cart and started eating the rest of her noodles.

Though it was subtle, Rossi noticed the brief expression of sadness that crossed Hotch's face when Fallon came up to him instead of her father. He put his hand on Hotch's shoulder. "Don't worry, Aaron. She knows who you and Emily are. She just needs some time to remember," he reassured the younger man. Hotch sighed sadly. "I know she'll eventually remember us, but it's really hard to watch her treat us like strangers," he said glumly. Rossi was about to say something when Fallon came up to him and Hotch again. The tiny girl held up her empty bowl. "I finished my noodles. Now may I have some ice cream?" she asked Rossi, showing him her bowl. The older agent smiled. "Sure," he told the girl.

Rossi, Hotch, and Fallon walked over to the ice cream sundae bar. "Who's ready for ice cream?" Rossi asked. He held up the ice cream scooper.

Charlie, Addison, and Luke raised their hands timidly. They weren't sure how excited they were allowed to be. Sometimes they'd be punished if they reacted too enthusiastically. Other times they'd be punished if their reaction wasn't enthusiastic enough.

"Come on over, everyone!" Rossi said. He and Hotch started taking tubs of ice cream out of the miniature freezer under the ice cream table/cart. The kids crowded around the table, and the adults stood behind them.

Rossi told everyone what their flavor options were. There was chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream. Rossi also listed sundae options and toppings. They could make a brownie sundae, a cookie sundae, a banana split, or just have ice cream with their choice of toppings. Toppings included hot fudge, caramel, strawberry syrup, fruit, nuts, various candies, crushed cookie bits, sprinkles, and whipped cream.

Charlie asked for a brownie sundae with chocolate ice cream. Rossi placed a brownie in a bowl and put a scoop of chocolate ice cream on top of it. He handed the bowl to Charlie, so he could choose his own toppings. Addison and Luke decided to share a banana split. Rossi placed a scoop of each ice cream flavor in between two halves of a banana. He handed the kind bowl containing the base of their banana split to Addison and Luke, so they could add toppings. Fallon asked for a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Rossi placed a large scoop of vanilla ice cream in a bowl and handed it to the small girl. Fallon joined the other three children at the end of the ice cream sundae bar, which was where all the toppings were located.

The kids were surprised that they were allowed to put toppings on their ice cream all by themselves. They'd never had so much power and control before. Having the ability to choose what they wanted and how much they wanted was extremely empowering for them. They felt unstoppable. They felt omnipotent. They took full advantage of the power and control that they'd been given, and they went crazy with their toppings. Charlie drowned his ice cream in hot fudge sauce. He covered his sundae in chocolate sprinkles and crushed cookie bits, then he topped it off with an ungodly amount of whipped cream. Addison and Luke put at least two spoonfuls of every topping except the fruit onto their banana split. They added hot fudge sauce and caramel to their banana split as well. They buried their ice cream under a mountain of whipped cream and put three maraschino cherries on top. Fallon went straight for the rainbow sprinkles. She dumped spoonful after spoonful of sprinkles onto her ice cream.

Once the kids had been served, Rossi started scooping ice cream for the adults. Emily, JJ, and Garcia decided to share a banana split. Reid made a chocolate chip cookie sundae. Rossi got himself a scoop of plain chocolate ice cream with no toppings, and Hotch got a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The adults joined the kids in the toppings area.

While everyone was getting toppings for their ice cream, Morgan hung back. He claimed that he didn't want any ice cream because he wanted to stay in shape, but Emily managed to entice him with the banana split that she was sharing with JJ and Garcia, and he ended up eating most of it.

"That's a lot of sprinkles," Hotch commented as he watched Fallon dump a seventh spoonful of sprinkles onto her ice cream. Fallon flinched and looked at Hotch fearfully. "I'm sorry!" she squeaked. She moved to dump some sprinkles out of her bowl, but Hotch gently stopped her. "It's okay," he said. He smiled. "I like sprinkles too," he told his daughter.

A memory suddenly flashed through Fallon's mind. She remembered the first time she tried rainbow sprinkles. It was three years ago, during the summertime. Hotch and Emily had taken her to the local ice cream parlor. She had gotten a kid-sized cup of cotton candy ice cream. Emily had gotten a medium cup of chocolate ice cream, and Hotch got a vanilla ice cream cone with rainbow sprinkles. Fallon thought Hotch's ice cream was really pretty because of all the differently colored sprinkles. Hotch let her taste his ice cream, and that was the day Fallon learned that she loved rainbow sprinkles.

The memory provided a brief moment of clarity, during which Fallon recognized Hotch as her father. The memory and its accompanying moment of clarity disappeared as quickly as they had occurred. They appeared abruptly, and then they were gone within a matter of seconds. Fallon furrowed her brow, thing to recall the memory again, but it was gone, safely tucked away in the depths of her subconscious mind.

Fallon only remembered Hotch for a few seconds, but it was enough for him to notice the change in the way his daughter was looking at him.

"What were you thinking about?" Hotch asked.

"I thought I remembered something, but the memory disappeared before I could recall it," Fallon answered. She backed away from her father, unsure of how she felt towards him. She shook her head, trying to shake off the confusion that she felt. "I've never met a grown man who likes rainbow sprinkles," she said, changing the subject. She let out a small giggle. Hotch chuckled softly. "I don't know of many grown men who like rainbow sprinkles," he said, putting a spoonful of sprinkles onto his ice cream. Fallon took a hesitant step towards Hotch. "Hey, Agent Hotchner?" she said softly. Hotch bent down, so he was eye-level with his daughter. "Yes, Fallon?" he said. Fallon bashfully looked down at the ground. Trying to figure out how to say what she wanted to tell Hotch, she awkwardly shuffled her feet as she shifted her weight from one door to the other. "Thank you for...everything," she finally said. She was immensely grateful for everything that Hotch and Emily had done since they rescued her, and she wanted them to know that.

Fallon's captor, Michael Bregoli, had conditioned her and the other three kids to always say "thank you", whether a gesture was deserving of thanks or not. He often made the children repay him for his "kindness" or prove how grateful they were. Fallon was used to expressing her gratitude through sexual acts, so she wasn't quite sure how to express her thanks appropriately.

"You're welcome, Fallon," Hotch said, giving his daughter a smile.

The two awkwardly stared at each other for a moment before parting ways. Fallon went over to the bed that Charlie, Addison, and Luke were sitting on, so they could eat their ice cream together. Hotch pulled his wife aside to tell her about his conversation with Fallon.

* * *

Once the BAU agents finished eating their ice cream, they went back to their rooms. JJ and Rossi offered to stay behind to help Hotch and Emily with Charlie, Addison, Luke, and Fallon, but the agents told them that they could handle the children themselves.

After eating their ice cream sundaes, the kids went on the calmest sugar high that Hotch and Emily had ever seen. The couples had expected the children to be bouncing off the walls, but all they did was jump on the beds and run around a little bit. They crashed from their sugar high after about fifteen minutes and fell fast asleep on one of the beds.

Since the children were asleep, Hotch and Emily went back to their room, leaving the door that connected the rooms open, in case the kids needed them. The two agents got into bed, and soon, they too fell fast asleep.

* * *

 **Wow! This was a long chapter! As always, thanks for reading and please review! :)**


	11. Chapter 11

Later that night, Emily was jolted awake by the rumbling of her bed. She looked at her husband and gently shook him awake.

"Aaron, do you feel that shaking?" Emily asked.

"It think it's an earthquake," Hotch replied, sitting up.

The two agents gasped and looked at each other. "The kids!" they exclaimed, jumping out of bed. They rushed into the children's room. Addison and Luke were taking cover under the sturdy desk, while Charlie braced himself in the doorway of the bathroom. Fallon was standing in the doorway of the closet, facing Charlie and holding onto her stuffed bunny.

The trembling lasted for a few more seconds then stopped.

"Is everyone okay?" Hotch asked, turning on the lights. Addison and Luke announced that they were okay, and Charlie and Fallon did the same. The kids were a little shaken up and startled, but they were otherwise unharmed. They looked around the room. Nothing had fallen or broken. The earthquake was minor, so Hotch and Emily told the children that it was probably safe to go back to bed. Fallon reminded everyone about the possibility of aftershocks.

Hotch and Emily put the kids back to sleep, then they went back to their room. They climbed back into bed and fell asleep, nestled in each other's arms.

The rest of the night went by smoothly. There were a few aftershocks, but everyone slept through them.

* * *

The next morning, the BAU agents packed up their go-bags.

While Morgan, JJ, and Reid were talking with the children after Hotch and Emily left to get breakfast, Rossi was interrogating Michael Bregoli. The older agent managed to get a confession from the kids' captor. He left it up to the Los Angeles prosecutors to decide whether Bregoli would face human trafficking and sexual abuse charges in California or be extradited back to Virginia to face federal kidnapping charges.

Once Rossi was done with Bregoli and the rest of the agents finished wrapping up the case, they drove to the airport with the kids.

The kids rode in Hotch and Emily's SUV. Addison and Luke sat on each end of the backseat, and Charlie sat in the middle with Fallon on his lap. Hotch drove while Emily rode shotgun. In the trunk of the car were Hotch and Emily's go-bags and four backpacks that they'd gotten for the kids as carry-ons.

"Have any of you been on a plane before?" Emily asked, turning around to look at the kids.

"Once I went on a plane with my parents. We flew to Disney World," Charlie said. A glimmer of sadness flashed through his eyes when he mentioned his parents. His face remained stoic, but Emily could see the sadness in his eyes.

"I flew on a plane to visit my family in Texas," Addison told the agent. She didn't say anything else, getting lost in her memories of her parents. Fallon silently offered her hand to Addison, and the blonde girl held it.

"My dad took me on a plane to go on vacation," Luke said. He thought of the vacation, and a momentary look of joy crossed his face. It was quickly replaced with a look of sadness when he realized it was the last vacation he'd ever been on.

"I don't think I've ever been on a plane before," Fallon told Emily. She thought really hard, trying to recall whether she'd ever flown on a plane before. She shrugged and shook her head. "I can't think of any time that I've flown on a plane before, but I've read all about them," she said.

Emily knew Fallon had never been on a plane before. Fallon was supposed to go on her first plane ride just three days after her abduction. Hotch and Emily gave her a big book about planes to read before the trip because she was curious. They had planned on taking their daughter to visit Emily's mother, who was stationed at the FBI field office Maine at the time. Unfortunately, Fallon's abduction halted their travel plans.

"Don't worry, Fallon. Plane rides are fun," Charlie told the small girl. He gave her a reassuring smile. She looked up at him and smiled back.

During the rest of the drive to the airport, the kids talked about planes, and Fallon would occasionally spout random plane facts that she remembered reading.

* * *

When the agents arrived at the private airport where the BAU jet was, they parked their SUVs and walked into the terminal.

Just like any other plane passenger, the agents had to go through security before boarding their jet. They had their bags checked and run through an X-Ray machine to check for any banned or illegal items. Then, they walked through a metal detector, and each one received a pat down from one of the TSA officers. The security measures were extra thorough in order to keep all of the FBI agents safe.

Emily was the first to finish going through security. The kids were cleared after Emily. She and Hotch explained the children's situation to the airport officials, so the kids wouldn't have to undergo further trauma by having a stranger touching their bodies during a pat down. They just had to walk through the metal detector, and all four of the children passed through without any problems. Emily convinced the TSA officers let her and the kids look at the X-Ray screen, so they wouldn't get too bored while they waited for the rest of the agents to finish.

Fallon was holding her stuffed bunny as she watched the agents' go-bags go through the X-Ray machine with fascination. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Rossi getting a pat down. She watched the TSA officer patting down Rossi's inner thigh. Terror and adrenaline filled her tiny body. Her flight or fight instincts kicked in instantly, and everything Bregoli had conditioned her to think and do was temporarily forgotten. She thought Rossi was in trouble, and she bolted to rescue him. She dropped her stuffed bunny and ran away from the X-Ray machine, charging towards the male officer who was patting Rossi down. Emily immediately asked JJ, who had just finished going through security to watch the other three kids, then she chased after her daughter.

"Stop touching my Uncle Dave, you dirty man!" Fallon exclaimed, head-butting the TSA officer's meaty thigh. She managed to punch him in the leg once. She was so weak and small, that the officer barely felt her tiny fist colliding with his thigh. Fallon tried to throw another punch at him, but Emily quickly scooped her up and held onto her. "Let me go, Agent Prentiss! He's hurting Uncle Dave!" the small girl cried out. She wriggled around, struggling to escape her mother's arms. She screamed that the TSA officer was touching Rossi inappropriately and that she needed to help him. She kicked and flailed, desperate to save her beloved Uncle. Hotch, who was still in line and running his belongings through the X-Ray machine, darted past the other agents. He ran through the metal detector to see what the commotion was about, setting it off because he hadn't had a chance to remove his watch. The alarm from the metal detector caused two TSA officers to run after Hotch.

"Stop right there, sir!" one of the officers called out to Hotch.

Hotch reached his wife and daughter before obeying the TSA officer and stopping. Emily and Rossi were trying to explain what the officer was doing, but Fallon was too frightened and distraught to listen. The tiny girl continued to struggle in her mother's arms, tears streaming down her face. Emily eventually started to lose her grip on the flailing child and set her down to avoid dropping her. Fallon ran to Rossi and threw her bony little arms around him.

"Uncle Dave, that mean man was hurting you!" she sobbed. She hugged his legs tighter. "I couldn't help you. I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" she cried. Rossi picked the small girl up and held her, doing his best to comfort her and calm her down.

"What is going on?" Hotch asked sternly. The seriousness in his voice brought back memories of Bregoli's "scary voice", which he used when punishing the kids. The flashback snapped Fallon back into reality, and all the conditioning that she'd endured at the hands of her captor came back. She looked at Hotch fearfully, shaking in terror.

"I'm sorry, Agent Hotchner. That man was hurting Uncle Dave. I had to save him and make the bad man stop," Fallon squeaked. She immediately braced herself, thinking that Hotch was going to beat her as punishment for the scene she had just caused.

Hotch sighed deeply. It was heartbreaking to see the pure unbridled fear in Fallon's eyes, and knowing that his voice caused it was devastating. The little girl didn't know any better, and he completely understood why his young daughter would mistake a simple pat down for molestation after what she and the other three children had been through. He tried to smile at Fallon to show that he wasn't angry at her "It's okay, Fallon. I understand why you thought that man was hurting Uncle Rossi," he told her in a gentle voice.

"He was touching him like a bad guy. I thought he was going to hurt him like the bad man hurt me," Fallon explained with a sniffle.

"I know, Sweetie. It looked like that man was touching him inappropriately, but he wasn't," Hotch replied.

"It's that man's job to make sure everyone is safe before they get on the airplane. He was making sure that Uncle Rossi wasn't hiding anything dangerous under his clothes. That's why he was touching him like that. He wasn't hurting him. He was just making sure that we'd be safe," Emily explained.

Fallon shrunk back, still shaking. She looked that the TSA officer that she'd head-butted and punched. "I'm sorry," she told him fearfully. He smiled at her. He told her that all was forgiven and that he understood why she attacked him.

Rossi put Fallon on the ground, so the officer could finish his pat down and show her that he wasn't getting hurt. Emily grabbed her daughter's stuffed bunny and handed it to her. Fallon clutched onto her bunny for comfort as she suspiciously observed the pat down, making sure that Rossi was okay. Hotch explained the situation to the two TSA officers that followed him after his watch set off the metal detector. They accepted the agent's explanation and let him go through security again. This time, Hotch walked through the metal detector without any problems.

While Hotch, Emily, and Rossi were dealing with Fallon and while JJ was watching the other three children, Reid, Morgan, and Garcia finished going through security.

* * *

Once Hotch was cleared, everyone was able to board the plane. They walked through the tunnel that connected their boarding gate to the BAU jet. The pilot greeted everyone with a friendly smile. Hotch, Emily, and the kids boarded the jet first. The pilot, who had heard about what happened to the children, gave each child a small toy airplane and a pin with wings on it. The children thanked the pilot before following Hotch and Emily into the plane. Morgan, Garcia, JJ, Reid, and Rossi boarded the jet last. The agents stowed their go-bags overhead before sitting down. Hotch and Emily helped the children stow their carry-on backpacks under their seats.

Hotch and Emily let the kids choose their seats. Charlie and Fallon choose to sit next to each other. Fallon asked if she could sit by the window, so Charlie let her have the window seat. He sat in the aisle seat next to her. Addison and Luke sat in the seats directly across from Charlie and Fallon, facing the two. Luke sat in the window seat, and Addison sat in the aisle seat. Hotch and Emily sat on the longer couch-like seat that was parallel to the kids. Garcia and Morgan sat together in the row of seats after Addison and Luke. JJ and Reid sat across from Garcia and Morgan. Rossi sat in a single seat next to Hotch and Emily's couch-seat.

Everyone buckled their seatbelts. Fallon had a hard time because she lacked the fine motor skills she needed to buckle her seatbelt. Charlie saw her struggling, and he buckled her seatbelt for her. Fallon smiled and thanked him.

Once everyone was buckled, the pilot closed the jet door and entered the cockpit. He announced that they would be taking off on the jet's speaker system.

As the jet taxied down the runway, the sound of its engines grew, startling Fallon. She'd read all about planes before, so she knew about the history and mechanics of planes, but she didn't know much about actually riding on one. The most she knew about being on a plane was what to do during a crash. To prepare for the flight she never got to take three years ago, Emily let Fallon look at her collection of safety cards that she'd gathered after years of traveling because of her mother's work.

Charlie noticed Fallon shaking, and he gently picked up her hand and held it. Addison saw this, and stretched across and held Fallon's other hand. Luke held Addison's free hand then reached over and held Charlie's other hand. The kids sat, holding hands in a circle, as the jet took off. Fallon thanked her friends and started to feel a little less scared. It warmed Hotch and Emily's hearts to see the kids supporting and helping each other out.

Fallon looked out the window, watching as the jet got higher and higher. She flinched every time the jet dipped to one side or the other. Eventually, the jet straightened out and was at a high enough altitude that it wasn't flying on an incline anymore. Once the jet was flying straight, Fallon relaxed. She told the kids that she wasn't scared anymore, and they gladly dropped each other's hands, tired from reaching to hold the person across from them's hand.

The kids talked softly to one another and played with the toy planes that the pilot gave them for about ten minutes, then they got bored. They all had the gaming systems that the agents gave them, but they weren't sure if they were allowed to use them. None of the children wanted to ask, fearing the agents would think they were being rude and punish them. They were also afraid to get out of their seats, since none of them had left their seat on a plane before. They played some hand games with each other, which kept them occupied for a little while, but eventually they ran out of things to do in their seats.

* * *

The kids' boredom grew to a point where they were starting to get antsy. They were used to being bored when Bregoli held them captive, but feeling trapped in one spot made them anxious. During the first few weeks of each child's captivity, they'd be chained to the wall until their captor thought he could trust them not to escape. The kids were pretty smart, and they all figured out what to say and how to act so Bregoli would trust them. Once they had gained his trust, they were left unchained, and they were able to get up to find something to entertain themselves. While the room they were kept in was small, there was enough room to walk around a little bit.

Charlie was the most antsy of all the children. He started fiddling with his seatbelt, accidentally tightening it. The feeling of the taut strap across his lap pushes him over the edge. He started having flashbacks to five years ago when he was abducted and chained to the wall by Bregoli. Out of all the children, he'd been chained to the wall the longest because he kept fighting. Once he learned what to do and say to get Bregoli to trust him, he passed his knowledge onto the three younger kids, so they wouldn't have to be chained as long as he was.

Charlie started hyperventilating and trying to get out of his seat. He was fumbling with his seatbelt too frantic to get it undone. The other kids immediately began trying to calm him down, and the agents got up to help as well.

"Hey, kid. What's going on?" Morgan said, kneeling down next to Charlie's seat.

"I gotta get out of here! I'm trapped! He's never gonna let me go!" Charlie exclaimed, near tears. He was in such a panic that he didn't even notice Fallon reaching over and trying her best to unbuckle his seatbelt.

"Who? Who isn't going to let you go?" Morgan asked.

"He's wants me to call him 'Daddy'. He's not my real dad! He's not my daddy!" Charlie cried out. Fallon had managed to get his seatbelt undone, but he didn't seem to notice. She tried to tell him, but he wasn't aware of her presence.

"Charlie, look at me," Morgan said gently.

"He's not my daddy. He's not my daddy. He's not my daddy," Charlie repeated to himself. He hugged his knees to his chest and started rocking back and forth in his seat. "He's not my daddy. He's not my daddy. He's not my daddy," he continued to repeat.

"Charlie, I need to look at me," Morgan said, a little more firmly.

The kids were getting anxious, watching Charlie have a panic attack. They were scared that Charlie would be punished if he didn't listen to Morgan. Fallon was trying to give him her stuffed bunny. Addison was trying to talk to him. Luke's fear of getting out of his seat finally outweighed his fear for Charlie's safety. He unbuckled his seatbelt, stood up, and stepped closer to Charlie. He took a deep breath. "CHARLIE!" he shouted, slapping the hysterical boy across the face. Charlie recoiled and snapped out of his flashback.

The agents gasped in shock, then all was quiet.

Charlie looked around embarrassedly. His cheeks flushed red. "Thanks. I needed that," he muttered quietly to Luke. Luke gave him a sympathetic smile. "Sorry I had to hit you. I didn't know what to do, and I just didn't want you to get in trouble," Luke told the older boy. He returned to his seat and buckled himself in again.

Charlie wiped his eyes and stopped hugging his knees. He straightened up in his seat. "Umm...sorry about that. I had a flashback," Charlie awkwardly explained.

"It's okay, Charlie. We understand," Hotch reassures the boy.

"I undid your seatbelt, so you wouldn't be trapped anymore," Fallon said.

"Thanks," Charlie said, giving Fallon a pat on the head.

"You're not trapped, Charlie. Unfortunately, you can't get off the plane yet, but you don't have to stay in your seat for the whole ride. You can walk around or play with your games," JJ told the boy.

"Does that mean we can play with our Nintendos?" Addison asked hopefully.

"Of course you can," JJ answered with a smile.

"Thank you!" Addison said. She and Luke reached under their seats and pulled out their backpacks. They took out their Nintendo 3DS's and started playing on them.

"You can hold my bunny. It always makes me feel better," Fallon told Charlie. She gently placed her beloved stuffed bunny on the boy's lap. Charlie thanked her with a small smile. "Can I please walk around and clear my head for a bit?" he asked cautiously. "May I come too?" Fallon added. Emily smiled at the kids. "Sure," she told them. Charlie got up, still holding Fallon's stuffed bunny, and started pacing up and down the aisle of the jet with Fallon following behind him. The agents went back to their seats, and all was calm again.

* * *

Rossi took a nap, snoring loudly, which made the kids giggle. JJ, Garcia, and Morgan played Go Fish. Hotch and Emily were reading on their tablets, occasionally glancing up to check on the kids. Reid had moved to a set of single seats that faced each other with a table in between. He was playing a game of chess with himself. Fallon noticed him staring at the chessboard, as if he was stuck. She had been subtly observing Reid's chessboard as she walked up and down the aisle with Charlie, and the agent hadn't moved any pieces in quite some time. As she passed by his seat, she heard him mumble "check mate" to himself. He was about to reset the chess pieces when she stopped at his seat.

"Excuse me, Doctor Reid," the young girl said.

"Yes, Fallon?" Reid responded, turning to look at the small child standing next to his seat.

"You can still move that piece," Fallon informed the profiler. She pointed to the piece she was talking about and showed him where he could move it.

"Hey, thanks! Nice catch," Reid told Fallon, moving the chess piece that she pointed out. Fallon smiled at him and was about to continue walking when he asked her a question. "How did you learn how to play chess?" Reid asked. He already knew the answer but asked anyway to see if he could bring up any memories. He remembered teaching Fallon how to play chess when she was two years old. She had seen him playing against himself, like he was doing on the jet, and she wanted to learn how to play. Reid taught her, and they would play chess together when he had free time. He'd always win, but she'd gotten closing to beating him a few times. Fallon thought for a moment. "I think I my parents' friend taught me," she answered. Reid smiled at the girl's answer. He wondered if she was starting to remember him. He invited her to play chess with him, and she accepted his invitation. She climbed onto the seat across from the profiler. They reset the board and started a new game.

"Hey, Doctor Reid?" Fallon asked.

"Yes?" Reid replied, looking at the small girl.

"I know that Agent Hotchner and Agent Prentiss are my parents. Well, that's what they told me...How come I can't remember them? They're like total strangers to me," Fallon said. Reid explained that her amnesia was a psychological defense mechanism that developed as a result of the trauma she went through. Fallon paused for a moment, letting his answer sink in. "Did they love me?" she asked. Reid nodded. "They loved you so much. They still do. They were devastated when you were taken," he told her. Fallon smiled and asked Reid if he would tell her more about her parents. She was hoping it would jog her memory and help her remember them. Reid was more than happy to help her, and he began telling her about Hotch and Emily as he and Fallon continued their game of chess.

* * *

After a few hours of playing chess and talking about her parents with Reid, Fallon still hadn't won a game, but she didn't care. She was having fun, and she liked hearing about her mother and father, even though she still couldn't remember them. Although she was enjoying their chess game, she was getting sleepy. She tentatively asked Reid if they could stop playing, fearing he'd get mad and punish her. To her relief, he wasn't mad at all. He told her that it was alright if she wanted to stop playing. She politely thanked him and got up. She went to Rossi, who was still asleep and gently tapped him. He slowly woke up and looked at Fallon.

"Fallon?" he said groggily.

"Uncle Dave, I'm sleepy. May I please take a nap?" Fallon asked.

"Of course you can," Rossi replied. He grabbed a blanket from the stash of blankets that the agents kept on the jet, and he led her over to the couch-seat that Hotch and Emily were sitting on. He asked if they were okay with Fallon napping on the other side of the couch, and they didn't have a problem with it. Fallon curled up in a ball on the opposite end of the couch-seat, and Rossi lovingly placed the blanket over her. She thanked him, then fell fast asleep.

While their daughter slept on the opposite side of the couch-seat, Hotch and Emily would glance in her direction to check on her every now and then, making sure she was okay. Fallon had been sleeping soundly for almost an hour when the two dark-haired profilers noticed that something had changed. The girl's peaceful sleeping expression was now marred with fear and anxiety. She was starting to move in her sleeping, trembling and tossing around. Hotch and Emily instantly knew that their daughter was having a nightmare. They looked at each other then back at Fallon, debating on whether or not they should wake her. Before they could decide, Fallon let out a piercing scream, drawing the attention of everyone else on the jet. Fallon began violently jerking around in her sleep, crying and screaming.

* * *

 _Fallon was trapped in the Fun Room, where Michael Bregoli filmed all of the deplorable things he did to the children. This time the Fun Room was decorated to look like a little girl's room. Fallon was outfitted in a skimpy school girl costume. She was sitting on the bed, looking around. There was a camera pointed at her. Charlie, Addison, and Luke were no where in sight. Not even her captor was in the room. She was all alone._

 _"Hello, little Phoenix. Daddy's here," Bregoli said, entering the room. He sauntered over to the bed and leered at the scantily-clad little girl._

 _Fallon looked up in terror at the large man, who towered over her. She started to tremble._

 _"Are you ready to have fun?" Bregoli asked, turning on his camera._

 _Fallon knew it wasn't a question. She didn't have a choice. She never had a choice._

 _The small child watched in horror as her abuser started to remove his clothing. Bregoli then placed Fallon on his lap and began to remove her clothing._ _S_ _he_ _started_ _to cry when her last_ _article_ _of clothing had been removed. She_ _knew_ _what was coming next._

 _Fallon whimpered as Bregoli pinned her tiny arms over her head and climbed on top of her. She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping it would all be over soon._

* * *

Hotch, Emily, and Charlie rushed to the little girl's side, trying to wake her up and console her.

"Stop it! You're hurting me! I don't want to do this! Get away from me!" Fallon wailed. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she kicked and flailed in her sleep. The weight of the blanket on her made her feel like she was under Bregoli again. She wriggled around, struggling to free herself, only to become more entangled in the blanket.

"Fallon, honey, wake up. It's just a dream," Emily said in a soothing tone.

"Fallon, it's not real. You're not in the Fun Room. You're safe," Charlie said, rubbing Fallon's back, trying to wake her.

"You're not my daddy! I want my real daddy!" Fallon cried out.

"Fallon, it's me. I'm here," Hotch said. He gently scooped Fallon into his arms. He gingerly rocked her like he used to when she was a baby.

"I want to go home! I want my mommy and daddy! Where are my mommy and daddy?" Fallon sobbed. She clung to her father Even though she didn't know it was him, being in his arms made her feel safer.

"Fallon, we're right here," Emily said. She moved her daughter's hair out of her face and smoothed it down.

The plane flew through a patch of rough air, and the sudden turbulence jolted Fallon out of her nightmare. Her eyes shot open and she looked around, dazed. She realized she was being held and turned her head to see who it was. Bleary-eyed, she stared up at Hotch. Then, she looked over at Emily, who was sitting next to him. She blinked a few times in disbelief. She wasn't sure if the two dark-haired profilers were real. She thought she was still dreaming. She wondered if the two agents were going to disappear when she woke up, leaving her with only a memory.

The small girl stared at her parents for several seconds, then something clicked inside her mind. She wasn't dreaming. This was real. They were real. They were her parents. The parents she'd been yearning to reunite with were really there, and she knew exactly who they were. Her memory of them had finally returned.

"Mommy and Daddy?" Fallon whispered incredulously, staring up at Hotch and Emily.

* * *

 **Yay! Fallon finally remembered her parents! I'm so sorry for not updating sooner! I was dealing with a lot and had a mad case of writer's block. I hope to update more frequently. As always, thanks so much for reading and please review! :)**


	12. Chapter 12

"Mommy and Daddy?" Fallon whispered incredulously, staring up at Hotch and Emily. The two agents couldn't contain their gasps.

"You know who we are?" Hotch asked, looking at his daughter in disbelief.

"You're my daddy. Your name is Aaron Hotchner, and you're the Unit Chief of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. You like rainbow sprinkles," Fallon told her father. She then pointed to her mother. "And you're my mommy. Your name is Emily Prentiss, and you're a Supervisory Special Agent for the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. You have a cat named Sergio," she told a stunned Emily.

Fallon looked around at all the agents, who had crowded around her, Hotch, and Emily. She recognized each and every one of them. She pointed to Reid. "You're Uncle Reid. You're really smart, and you taught me how to play chess," she said. She pointed to JJ. "You're Aunt JJ. You have two kids, and you like soccer," she said. She pointed to Morgan. "You're Uncle Derek. You have big muscles, and you used to put me on your shoulders," she said. She pointed to Garcia. "You're Aunt Penelope. You like technology, and you're super fun to be around," she said. She pointed to Rossi. "And you're Uncle Dave. You write books and have a big mansion," she said. The agents were shocked but delighted that Fallon suddenly remembered who they were.

Fallon hugged Hotch tightly, then she crawled onto Emily's lap and hugged her as well. "I missed you so much! I thought I was never going to see you ever again! I'm so happy!" she cried joyously. Hotch and Emily did what they'd been longing to do since they found Fallon. They finally hugged her. They'd been afraid to touch her, not wanting to frighten her, but now that she remembered them, they couldn't help themselves. Their group hug startled Fallon at first, but she quickly relaxed against her parents' bodies, hugging them back and not wanting to let go. "Oh, Fallon, you don't know how much we missed you! We didn't think we'd see you again either! We're so happy to have you back," Emily told her daughter. She and Hotch pulled away from the hug, letting their daughter breathe. Emily gave Fallon a kiss on the forehead. "We're a family again!" Fallon exclaimed happily. She noticed the melancholy expressions on the faces of Charlie, Addison, and Luke as they awkwardly watched her from a distance. She climbed off of her mother's lap and ran to them. She pulled the three older children into a group hug. "Don't worry! You're my family too! You three and my mommy and daddy are one big family now!" she told them. She told them that they'd never have to worry about not having a family again. "I love you guys so much! You'll always be my family," she said. The kids smiled and hugged her back. "We love you too, Fallon. Thanks for letting us be in your family," Charlie said. Fallon smiled at Charlie. "Of course! I've spent most of my life with you all. You three were my only family for years. Even though I can't bring your parents back, I can share mine with you. You're part of out family now, and I never want you to be family-less again," she said to all of the older children.

Although they'd only known Charlie, Addison, and Luke for two days, Hotch and Emily already felt a strong connection to them. They loved the three older kids as if they were their own, and they knew they could never separate the kids after what they endured together. They understood that it was going to take a while for the kids to trust them and feel safe again, but they were prepared and ready for the challenge.

"Here's your stuffed bunny, Fallon. Thanks for letting me hold it. You're right, it did make me feel better," Charlie told Fallon. He handed her the stuffed bunny with a smile. Fallon thanked him and hugged her bunny.

"How much longer is the flight?" Addison asked. She immediately flinched, hoping she wouldn't get in trouble for asking questions. JJ checked her watch, then she told the girl that they would be landing in about two hours. Addison politely thanked the blonde agent.

By now, the three older children were tired, so they went back to their seats to nap. The other agents went back to their seats as well. Fallon was too excited to go back to sleep, so she spent the rest of the flight talking to her parents and getting reacquainted with them.

* * *

When the pilot announced that they'd be landing soon, the three older kids woke up and buckled their seatbelts again. The agents buckled their seatbelts too. Fallon sat on Emily's lap during the jet's landing.

Once the plane came to a stop at its designated terminal, the agents stood up and started collecting their belongings. The kids grabbed their backpacks from under the seat and looked at the agents, unsure of what to do next. After the jet was connected to the tunnel that led to the airport, the pilot announced that everyone could disembark. Hotch and Emily left first. The children followed behind them, then the rest of the agents left. The children made sure to thank the pilot as they were leaving, remembering what Michael Bregoli would do to them if they forgot to say "thank you."

The agents parted ways once they were off the jet. Hotch reminded them of the paperwork that they need to fill out, and he asked them to have it finished by the following day. He praised the agents on their hard work and congratulated them on a job well done. He gave everyone the rest of the night off, then he and Emily took the kids to their car.

Hotch and Emily put their go-bags and the kids' backpacks in the trunk of their sedan, and they all piled into the car.

"Sorry, it's such a tight squeeze, kids. This car is smaller than the FBI SUVs. Don't worry, our other car has plenty of room for everyone," Emily told the children as they buckled their seatbelts. When everyone was buckled in, Hotch began driving home.

"Excuse me, mommy and daddy?" Fallon said hesitantly. She remembered who her parents were, but that didn't erase all the conditioning and trauma that she'd been subjected to at the hands of Bregoli. While she felt slightly more comfortable around her parents, she was still conditioned to act and think a certain way, and it would take a long time for them to undo the detrimental ways of behaving and thinking that Bregoli taught her during her time in his captivity.

"Yes, Fallon?" Hotch said, glancing at her in the rear view mirror.

"I'm hungry," Fallon told her father. She immediately braced herself, fearing punishment for voicing her needs. The initial glee at remembering her parents had worn off, and she was unsure if she could trust Hotch and Emily.

"We'll be home soon, then we can have dinner," Hotch told the girl. He gave her a small smile to show he wasn't angry with her. Emily leaned over and gently reminded her husband that they had no food in the house. Hotch sighed. "We need to buy some food to make dinner. Do you kids mind if we stop by the store?" he asked.

Addison and Luke's eyes lit up at the idea of shopping.

"Can we buy those smiley face potatoes?" Addison chirped excitedly.

"And some dinosaur chicken nuggets?" Luke asked hopefully.

The two kids looked at each other, and a brief look of panic crossed their faces. They remembered the punishments they got when they forgot to say "please."

"Please!" Addison and Luke quickly added.

Hotch and Emily smiled at the two kids' excitement.

"Of course! We can buy whatever you want," Emily said. She knew the kids needed to gain weight, so she and Hotch were more than happy to buy them food. She made a mental note to buy some healthy foods for the kids to balance out the junk food she knew they'd pick out.

Fallon, Addison, and Luke started chattering about what food they wanted. Charlie smiled at them, glad that they had something to be happy about. He was excited about getting to pick out food at the store too, but he was more subdued about it.

Hotch pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store and parked near the front. The kids jumped out of the car, ready to start shopping. Hotch and Emily got a shopping cart, and they let the kids get one for themselves. Fallon requested to sit in the cart, so Emily placed her in the seat part of the kids' cart. Charlie pushed the kids' cart, while Hotch pushed the other cart.

The two agents split up when they entered the store. Hotch went to pick up ingredients to make dinner with and healthy food, and Emily went with the kids to pick out what they wanted.

Emily and the children went to the frozen food aisle first. Addison and Luke scanned the shelves of food, searching for smiley face potatoes and dinosaur chicken nuggets. They quickly located what they were looking for and added the two items to the cart. When Emily told them that they could get another bag of each item, the two children nearly fainted with delight. The prospect of so much food overwhelmed them with joy. They thanked Emily and added another bag of smiley face potatoes and dinosaur chicken nuggets.

The next aisle Emily and the kids went to was the snack aisle. The kids were so excited they could hardly contain themselves. They raced up and down the aisle grabbing everything that caught their eye. They consciously avoided the section of the aisle that the granola bars were in. For most of their time in captivity, Bregoli just fed them granola bars and canned food. After their rescue, the children vowed to never eat another granola bar again.

Emily noticed Charlie had paused in the chip section of the aisle. He was staring sadly at a huge container of cheeseballs. Still keeping an eye on the other three kids, she walked over to Charlie. "Hey, buddy. You okay?" she said softly. Charlie shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. I used to eat cheeseballs with my dad after we'd play football," he replied glumly. He let out a depressed sigh. "I bet seeing these brings up a lot of feelings, huh?" Emily said sympathetically. Charlie nodded stiffly. He clenched his jaw, trying not to cry. The profiler noticed this. "It's okay to feel sad. You've been through a lot, and what you're feeling is understandable. Being upset or crying doesn't make you weak," Emily told the boy. Charlie thanked her awkwardly. He took a minute to regain his composure, then he grabbed a container of cheeseballs and added it to the cart. Memories of his father still lingered in his mind, but he distracted himself by listening to Fallon, Addison, and Luke talk animatedly about what they picked out. Their happiness made him happy.

When they finished in the snack aisle, they went to the boxed food aisle, so Fallon could get noodles. Fallon picked out six different boxes of pasta and put them in the cart. Next, they went to the baking aisle, where Addison and Luke loaded up the cart with cake mix, chocolate chips, and other baking ingredients. After the baking aisle, the kids went back to the freezer area of the store. They each picked out a tub of ice cream for themselves. Charlie got chocolate ice cream. Addison got mint chocolate chip ice cream. Luke got Rocky Road ice cream. Fallon got cookie dough ice cream.

The last aisle Emily and the children went to was the candy aisle. Since Hotch was finished gathering the food he was looking for, he joined everyone in the candy aisle. Like they did in the snack aisle, the kids ran around grabbing whatever appealed to them. Hotch followed the kids, supervising them, while Emily stayed with their shopping carts.

Emily was a few feet away from Addison, when she noticed a middle-aged man staring at her. She kept a watchful eye on the blonde girl, making sure she was safe. Normally Addison would've noticed the man staring at her, but she was so ecstatic about buying candy that she temporarily let her guard down.

"Lark?" the middle-aged man mumbled to himself under his breath. He looked like he recognized Addison from somewhere.

Addison was reaching for a bag of Skittles when she stopped dead in her tracks. She froze upon hearing the name that Bregoli would call her in his videos. Trembling, she slowly looked at the man, who was licking his lips. Emily noticed the bulge in the man's pants and immediately put herself between Addison and the man. She realized that he recognized the blonde girl from the disturbing videos of her that Bregoli made and distributed.

Addison caught a glimpse of the man's bulge in his pants as Emily stepped in front of her. She felt a warm sensation spreading down her legs. She didn't have to look to know that she'd just urinated. She saw the puddle at her feet, and her lip started to quiver.

"Aaron!" Emily called out. Hotch immediately looked at his wife. He instructed the kids to go to Emily, and they obediently did as they were told. He stood in front of Emily and glared at the man, who was pretending to look at candy.

"What's going on here?" Hotch asked sternly.

"Huh? Oh, uh, nothing. I'm just trying to decide what candy to buy," the man nervously lied. He quickly grabbed the first bag of candy he saw.

"This man was leering at our child," Emily said.

"No, I wasn't! I was just admiring her. She's so beautiful," the man said.

"I think you were doing more than 'admiring' her," Hotch said, glancing at the bulge in the man's pants.

The man dropped the bag of candy he was holding and bolted. Hotch took off after him, while Emily stayed behind to watch the children.

"What just happened?" Charlie asked worriedly.

"He called me 'Lark'," Addison whispered shakily.

Without a word, Charlie sprinted after the man, ignoring Emily calling his name.

Emily knew that Hotch would deal with Charlie, so she focused on tending to Addison.

"I peed myself," Addison told Emily in a barely audible whisper. She shamefully looked at the puddle of urine on the ground. She flinched, fully expecting to be beaten for soiling her clothing and making a mess.

"Oh, Sweetie..." Emily said softly.

"I'm sorry!" Addison said, starting to cry.

"It's okay. Don't be sorry. You were scared. It's a natural reaction. Let's go get fresh clothes from the car," Emily told the girl. She, Fallon, and Luke ushered Addison out of the store.

As Emily and the kids were approaching the store's exit, they saw the middle-aged man dart past them. Hotch and Charlie followed close behind.

"FUCK YOU!" Charlie screamed, tackling the man to the ground. He was small for his age, but he managed to propel himself with enough force to knock the man down. They crashed into a fruit display, toppling it to the ground and sending apples rolling in different directions.

Employees of the store rushed over to see what the commotion was about.

"YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" Charlie yelled, punching the man in the face.

Emily was trying to explain the situation to the store employees, while Hotch was trying to pull Charlie off the man.

A few minutes later, four police officers arrived. An employee called the police after seeing Hotch chasing the man around the store.

Two of the police officers, Officers Alex and Drake, ran over to Hotch and helped him yank Charlie off of the man, while the other two, Officers Luna and Keely, started talking to witnesses. Emily showed her credentials and explained the situation to the officer that approached her. Hotch explained what happened to Officer Alex that helped him with Charlie. Officer Drake looked at the middle-aged man. He walked over and handcuffed him.

"That's William List. He was recently paroled. He was supposed to register as a sex offender, but he never did. We've gotten several reports of a man matching his description leering at young girls. We've been looking for him," Officer Alex explained to Hotch.

"William List, you're under arrest for failing to register as a sex offender and violating the conditions of your parole. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights as I have read them? With these rights in mind, do you still wish to speak to me?" Officer Drake said, mirandizing William List.

The store patrons cheered as Officer Drake led the man out. Hotch and Charlie regrouped with Emily and the other three children. Officers Luna and Keely finished taking statements, then they walked over to Hotch, Emily, and the kids.

"Agent Prentiss told us about the kids. On behalf of the Quantico Police Department, we'd like to pay for your groceries," Officer Luna told the two dark haired profilers.

"That's so kind, but you really don't have to do that," Hotch said.

"It's the least we can do after what they've been through. Plus, you helped us catch an unregistered sex offender," Officer Keely said.

Hotch tried to turn down their offer once again, but he eventually conceded. He, Emily, and the kids graciously thanked the officers for their kindness.

While Officers Luna and Keely were paying for the food, Emily took Addison to the bathroom to change, and Hotch watched the other three children.

The officers helped Hotch and Emily bring their groceries to their car, and the put the items in the trunk. Hotch and Emily thanked them again, then they and the kids got into the car and drove home.


	13. Chapter 13

When they got home, the kids were exhausted. They grabbed their backpacks out of the trunk, and Emily led them into the house. As the children made their way into the house, Hotch brought his and Emily's go-bags inside.

"This is our house," Emily told the kids as she unlocked the door. She pushed the door open, revealing the inside of the house.

Hotch and Emily had a medium-sized home. It wasn't as spacious as Rossi's mansion, but it had more than enough room to accommodate the newest additions to the household.

The kids were astonished. To most people, Hotch and Emily's house was nothing special. To the children, it was like a palace. Compared to the tiny, squalid room that they'd been kept in for several years, this house was a luxury.

Emily introduced the children to Sergio the cat, who sniffed each child then sauntered away. After they met the cat, she gave the children a house tour, while Hotch brought the groceries in. Once Hotch had finished bringing everything in, he started cooking dinner. Emily took the kids to each part of the house, showing them every room. When she was finished showing the kids the first floor, she brought them up to the second floor. She showed them where her and Hotch's master bedroom was, in case they needed them after they went to sleep. She showed them the three guest rooms, which would be turned into bedrooms for Charlie, Addison, and Luke. Finally, she took them to Fallon's room.

When Emily opened the door to her room, Fallon ran in. She looked around thoughtfully, remembering her life before her abduction. Everything was exactly where she'd left it the day she was taken. Hotch and Emily couldn't bring themselves to get rid of any of their daughter's belongings or clean out her room. The most they did to her room was some occasional dusting.

"It looks just like it did three years ago!" Fallon stated. She spotted her crib, and her face lit up. When she was taken, she was still sleeping in a crib. Hotch and Emily had been planning to transition their daughter to a toddler bed, but they never got the chance.

Fallon ran up to her crib and touched the bars. "My crib is still here!" she exclaimed. She stuck her tiny arm through the bars and ran her hand over the blanket. She felt comfort knowing that her room was still the same. She'd been through so many changes over the past several days, and she was grateful to have something familiar to attach herself to.

"We can get you a new bed tomorrow," Emily told her daughter.

"No!" Fallon interjected. She immediately realized what she'd done and cowered, expecting to be hit for being disrespectful. "I'm sorry! I mean, no, thank you. I like my crib," she squeaked.

"That's fine, Fallon. If you want to sleep in your crib, that's okay with us," Emily told her daughter. She gave the terrified girl a small smile to show she wasn't angry. Fallon relaxed slightly. "Thank you," she said meekly.

"As for the rest of you, you are more than welcome to get new beds tomorrow if you would like. If you want, we can go to the store, and you can pick out things you'd like to decorate your rooms with," Emily told the older children.

Addison's face lit up. Shopping was quickly becoming one of her new favorite activities. It didn't matter what she was shopping for, she just liked being able to make her own choices.

"I'm going to check on dinner. I'll let you all choose which room you want," Emily said. She left the children upstairs and went downstairs to see what Hotch was cooking.

"Can I have this bedroom?" Addison asked hopefully. She gestured to one of the rooms that had a bathroom that connected to a different room.

"Sure," Charlie said.

"Can I have the one connected to Addison's?" Luke asked. He looked at the room next to Addison's.

"That's fine with me," Charlie replied. Luke and Addison high-fived victoriously.

Since Addison and Luke claimed the two adjoining rooms, Charlie was left with the room farthest away from Hotch and Emily's room. It was the biggest of the four kids' rooms.

The kids heard Emily call them down for dinner, and they raced down the stairs.

"Is everyone okay with having spaghetti and meatballs for dinner?" Hotch asked, holding a steaming pot of food.

The children nodded eagerly. Emily led the kids to the dining table, where Hotch had laid out six plates. Emily and the children sat down at the table, while Hotch walked around the table, serving everyone's food. He served himself last, then sat down.

Charlie, Addison, and Luke started eating as soon as the food touched their plate. They savored the delicious flavors of Hotch's cooking. They couldn't remember the last time they'd had a home-cooked meal or a family dinner. They still were cautious of Hotch and Emily, but they were beginning to feel safer with them.

Fallon, the most finicky eater of the group, pushed all of her meatballs to the edge of her plate before eating only the spaghetti. When she had finished her spaghetti, only the meatballs remained on her plate. She tried to subtly put her meatballs onto Charlie's plate, but he noticed what she was doing.

"Fallon, don't you want to eat your meatballs?" the dark-haired boy asked.

"No," Fallon replied.

"But meat has protein, and protein helps you get big and strong," Charlie told the young girl.

"I just wanted the noodles. You can have my meatballs. I don't need to be big and strong," Fallon responded, pushing her plate towards him.

"Can you just eat one meatball? I'll eat the rest. It's been a while since we've eaten something other than granola bars, and you need protein to stay healthy," Charlie said.

"Fine," Fallon sassed, rolling her eyes. She stuck her fork into the smallest meatball on her plate and ate it. She chewed and swallowed it, then opened her mouth to show Charlie that she had indeed consumed it. "There. I ate one meatball," she informed the wavy-haired boy.

"Thank you, Fallon," Charlie said with a small smile. He transferred the rest of the small girl's meatballs to his plate and began eating them. He hoped that the extra protein would help him bulk up, so he could become a football player.

Hotch and Emily were impressed with Charlie's negotiation skills. They noticed Fallon only eating her spaghetti. They didn't say anything, because they didn't want to scare her, and they were just happy to see her eating.

* * *

Once dinner was finished, Emily asked the children what they wanted to do. Addison timidly requested to take a shower, and the other three reluctantly decided they wanted to shower too.

The children had a love/hate relationship with bathing. They loved being clean, which was a nice contrast to the filth they were constantly surrounded with. However, every time Michael Bregoli let them bathe, it meant that he was preparing to film a video in the Fun Room. Bathing was a privilege during their captivity, and they were forced to earn that privilege by making videos with Bregoli.

While Hotch washed the dishes and cleaned up, Emily took the kids upstairs. She got each child a towel and reminded them where the bathrooms were. She put shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in each bathroom for the kids to use. She brought their new clothes into their rooms, so they could change after they were finished showering.

Addison chose to shower in her and Luke's bathroom first. Luke was more than okay with letting her shower before him. He was very full from dinner and wanted to rest for a little while. Addison announced to Luke that she was going to shower and that he needed to stay out of the bathroom until she was finished. She brought her towel into the bathroom with her and closed the doors that led to her and Luke's rooms. She locked each door, turned on the shower, and stepped in.

While Addison was showering, Fallon was nervously talking to Charlie about bathing.

"I've never taken a bath by myself. He would always bathe me. How do I do it?" Fallon said to Charlie.

"Well...first you fill up the bathtub or turn on the shower. Then, you get in and get wet. Next, you wash your hair and body. Finally, you rinse off all the soap and shampoo. When you're all rinsed off, then you drain the bathtub or turn off the shower and get out and dry off," Charlie said.

"I know what to do. I've just never done it by myself before. How do I know if the water is the right temperature? What is the right temperature? How much soap do I use? How much shampoo do I use? Do I wash my body or hair first? Do I use shampoo or conditioner first? What if I get soap in my eyes?" Fallon asked nervously.

Charlie thought about the first time Bregoli let him bathe by himself. He had been held captive for a year before he was allowed to bathe independently. He was six years old when Bregoli shoved him into the bathroom and told him to take a shower. He tried his best to figure out how to use the shower and which bath products to use. He eventually got the hang of it, and he taught the other children what to do when Bregoli let them bathe alone. Bregoli waited until the children turned six years old before he let them bathe themselves. Fallon never got a chance to bathe herself.

Charlie taught Fallon what he taught Addison and Luke when they were allowed to bathe themselves. Even with Charlie's advice, Fallon was still anxious.

"Why don't you ask your mom to help you? You know? Since she's a girl too..." Charlie tentatively suggested.

"No way! I don't want her to see me naked! What if she tricks me and makes a movie with me like he did!?" Fallon exclaimed. She was flabbergasted that Charlie would even suggest something like that.

"Something tells me that she'd never hurt you like he did. Remember what you said after your mom said she was with the FBI when she and your dad found us?" Charlie said.

"I said 'It's the FBI! They're the good guys!'" Fallon replied.

"Right. She's one of the good guys. Her job is to protect you and keep you safe. Has she ever hurt you before?" Charlie said.

"No, she's always been a great mommy. She's never hurt me before. She only hurts the bad guys," Fallon said.

"See? She hasn't ever hurt you before, and I don't think she will now. I'm pretty sure that you can trust her," Charlie told Fallon.

"Do _you_ trust her?" Fallon asked.

"Well, you know that I can't trust anybody for certain...except you, Addison, and Luke. There's always a chance that someone will hurt you. I can't say that I completely trust her yet. That might take a while, or it may never happen, but I feel safe with her. She's a safe person. I can only say that my gut is telling me that I can trust that your mom would never hurt any of us on purpose. The same goes for your dad," Charlie responded. He wasn't able to put his full trust into Hotch and Emily yet, due to his trust issues. He just knew that his instincts told him that they weren't a threat to his or the other three children's safety. Even though he felt safer, it would still take a long time to stop reacting to them with the behaviors and thoughts that Bregoli had ingrained in him for years.

"I guess you're right," Fallon told Charlie.

"And if you think about it, she's probably already seen you naked when she's changed your diapers or given her baths as a baby," Charlie said.

"Good point. She probably has seen me naked before. Thanks, Charlie," Fallon said. She smiled and gave Charlie and hug. When she broke away from the hug, she looked up at Charlie. "Will you please come with me to talk to her?" she asked softly.

"Of course I will," Charlie answered with a nod. He held her hand, and the two began looking for Emily. They found her in her and Hotch's room, unpacking her go-bag.

"Umm...excuse me, Agent Prentiss?" Charlie called out softly.

"Yes, Charlie?" Emily replied, looking up at the boy.

"Fallon was wondering if you could help her take a bath. She's never bathed alone before," Charlie told the agent.

"Of course I can help her," Emily said. She held out her hand, and Fallon took it. The two walked hand-in-hand to the bathroom that was attached to Hotch and Emily's room.

"Thank you for helping me," Fallon said awkwardly.

"You're welcome, Fallon," Emily replied with a small smile. She shut the bathroom door and began running the water for Fallon's bath. She held her hand under the running faucet to make sure the water wasn't too hot. She added some soap to the tub, creating big fluffy bubbles. Once the tub was about three-quarters of the way full, she turned off the water. She looked at her daughter. "Ready?" she asked. Fallon nodded nervously. She shyly took off her clothing and let Emily place her in the bathtub. The small girl hid her body under the bubbles, blushing.

"What happens now?" Fallon asked stiffly. Emily could tell how uncomfortable her daughter was, and she did her best to ease the girl's anxiousness.

"I can help you wash your hair or your body. Whichever you want," Emily answered. Fallon thought for a moment. "Can I wash my body myself?" she asked hesitantly. Emily nodded. She gave Fallon and washcloth with soap on it. Fallon carefully scrubbed her body, trying to remove every trace of her captor. She loved feeling clean again. Emily helped Fallon rinse off, then she washed and conditioned her daughter's hair. Once all the shampoo and conditioner was rinsed out of Fallon's hair, Emily took her out of the tub, wrapped her in a towel, and then drained the bathtub. Fallon let Emily know that she could dry herself off alone, so Emily walked her to her room, and left her alone to get dressed.

By the time Fallon was finished with her bath, Charlie, Addison, and Luke had finished showering and were getting ready to go to bed.

Fallon dried herself off, then she looked through the bag of clothing that she bought in Los Angeles. She put on a pair of underwear, but wasn't satisfied with her pajama options. She looked at the door to her bedroom closet. Curiously, she pushed it open and peeked inside. All of her old clothing was exactly where she left it three years ago. She looked through all of the articles of clothing until her eyes settled on a fleecy yellow onesie. She touched it hesitantly. It was her favorite onesie. She carefully took it off the hanger and inspected it. She ran her hand over the soft fabric. She put it on, enjoying the warmth and comfort that it gave her. It was slightly baggier than she remembered, but she didn't mind. She started to reminisce about life before her abduction.

A soft knock at the door snapped Fallon out of her thoughts. She walked over to the door and opened it. Her parents were standing at the door. Fallon remembered that she didn't ask permission to wear her old onesie, and she hoped that she wasn't about to get in trouble for it. To her relief, Hotch and Emily were just coming to say goodnight. They noticed her onesie and smiled. "I'm so glad you found your favorite onesie, Fallon," Hotch said with a small grin. Fallon smiled shyly at her father. "Is it okay if I wear some of my old clothes?" she asked. Hotch and Emily nodded. "Of course you can, Sweetie," Emily told her daughter. Fallon thanked her parents, and they said goodnight to her. They placed her in her crib and tucked her in. They each gave her a kiss on the forehead and told her they loved her. They reminded her that she could come get them at anytime if she needed something, then they left to say goodnight to the rest of the children, closing her door behind them.

Fallon was exhausted, and she fell fast asleep, feeling safe and secure in her crib as she clutched her stuffed bunny.

Hotch and Emily knocked on Luke's door. Luke opened his door and politely greeted the two agents. He yawned and sleepily rubbed his eyes. They said goodnight to the young boy and were about to leave, when a small voice stopped them.

"Can you please tuck me in?" Luke asked shyly.

Hotch and Emily smiled and walked to Luke's bedside. They tucked the boy in and told him they loved him. They shut the light off and reminded Luke that they'd be in their room if he needed them, then they closed the door and went to Addison's door.

Emily knocked on Addison's door, and the skinny blonde girl opened the door. She greeted them, and asked if they could tuck her in too. Hotch and Emily tucked the girl in, told her they loved her, and said goodnight. They told her where they'd be if she needed them, then they shut the light off and left her room, closing the door behind them.

Hotch and Emily went to Charlie's room last. They knocked, and Charlie answered. They said goodnight and offered to tuck the boy in. Charlie politely declined and climbed onto his bed. Hotch and Emily told him they loved him and told him where to go if he needed them. They shut his light off and closed his door as they left.

Hotch and Emily walked back to their room. They both changed into their pajamas and climbed into bed. It wasn't long before they fell fast asleep, nestled in each other's arms.


End file.
